The First Time
by Coconut1214
Summary: The first times for James and Juliet.
1. The First Time they shared a beer

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: This is a bunch of random drabbles so they are in no particular order.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." - Walt Whitman

* * *

Ch 1.

The first time they shared a beer together was after the two weeks had come and gone. Sawyer walked up to her with a six pack in his hands and he saw her sitting on a chair on the front porch of the house they had given her, his was right next door. He walked up and held out a can to her. "I can't drink" she said looking up at him. He rose his eye brow in confusion "What, do ya mean you can't drink?"

She looked up at him shielding her eyes from the sun that was now beginning its descent. "It's 1974, I'm four years old"

He shook his head and laughed. "Well there ain't no parents around so this will be our little secret" He said winking at her. She smiled and held her hand out and he gave her a beer. They popped their cans open and sat in silence watching the sun set. "So I told Horace you were the ships mechanic" he said breaking the silence.

"Thank you" she replied taking another sip.

"You do know how to fix cars, right?" he asked because he didn't want the con ruined when she went to work for them for the first day.

She turned and looked at him. "Yes, James I know how to fix cars. I drove a '69 Firebird in High School."

"Really?" he asked surprised

"Yes, it was my dad's" she answered. She really loved that car. "We started working on it when I was thirteen"

Sawyer was impressed and thought about her driving through the town in her firebird with her blonde hair flying in the wind. "What color was it?"

"Red" She answered. "And before you get any ideas, I was a geek in high school" She said smiling. "I was a geek until I came here"

Sawyer looked at her. "I've thought of many names to call ya since the day I met you, but I have to say geek was never one of them." He raised his eye brows at her wanting her to explain.

Juliet smiled and had no problem knowing what names he was thinking of. "This person you see right here, this wasn't who I was"

"Who were ya then?" he asked

"A nobody" she replied

"I find that hard to believe, you're a doctor so that makes you somebody special"

"Yes, but I was still a nobody, I hid in the shadows while others took most of the credit" She was published but Edmund made sure his name was next to hers even after they were divorced.

Sawyer saw her staring sadly out into the distance; he couldn't imagine Juliet being anyone's shadow. "You were still better than me, I was the same guy in high school that I am now" he told her opening another beer.

"You mean a guy that would jump out of helicopter to save his friends" Juliet said looking at him.

He stopped mid sip and looked at her. "It looks like we both changed since bein' on this damn island" he took his sip and swallowed

They sat there in silence for a few more hours just enjoying having the other there.


	2. The First Time he saw her scar

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." – Walt Whitman

* * *

The first time he saw her scar he was cleaning and so was she. He looked over at her scrubbing the floor where they had spilt the wine they were drinking. Her shirt had risen exposing her back and mark that was on it. "What's that?" he asked

"What's what?" she replied with a smile.

"On your back" He told her and he watched her entire body stiffen. She jumped up and pulled her shirt down. "It's nothing" she replied turning away from him.

"It don't look like nothin'" he replied standing up and walking closer to her. "Did they do that to you?" He asked not hiding the anger in his voice. "The Others" he finished.

Juliet had her eyes closed and refused to look at him; she placed her hands on the counter in front of her. James gently placed his hands over hers. She looked down and saw his hand over hers and then she looked towards the ceiling. "It was a punishment" she finally said.

"A punishment!" He said with rage growing inside of him. "A punishment for what?"

She took a deep breath. "For killing one of them"

His hand tightened around her. "Those bastards, who'd you kill?" he asked.

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Danny" she whispered

She saw the rage turn into confusion and then to a horrified expression. He was speechless as his hand dropped from hers.

"They…they did this you…after you let us go?" He asked barely able to get the words out. He didn't give her much thought that day when she saved his life. He just wanted to get Kate away from them. He didn't think about what she did for him and now he's finding out the price she paid for him. A price that she'd wear forever.

"Yes" She replied as he kept taking steps backwards. "James, it's not your fault. I knew what I was doing" She told him as she walked towards him. He was leaning against the refrigerator with guilt written across his face. "James" She said to get him to look at her. "I wanted to kill him, I did it for me"

He looked at her with his eyebrows somewhere between confusion and anger at himself. "What'd ya mean?"

"Ben promised me I could leave the island, if I helped Jack by making sure the both of you escaped unharmed" She told him.

"Ben promised you that you could leave" he repeated. "He wouldn't let you leave?"

Juliet closed her eyes; in trying to make him feel better she unwillingly told him why she was with the Others.

"You weren't there because you wanted to be?" He asked knowing the answer. "He…he was holding you against your will?" He asked now walking towards her. "Juliet, were you their prisoner?"

She fell back against the counter with her eyes still closed. "I didn't think I was, until he wouldn't let me leave"

"Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't show us what they did to you, when you came to our camp?" he asked

She ran her hands through her hair. "Would it have made a difference, James? Would you've believed me then?" She asked him.

He looked away from her and then back. "I don't know" he answered honestly. Knowing how much he hated the Other's back then, how much he hated her because she was one of them. But she's proven herself to him and to all of them since she came clean. Since she helped them trick them and kill more of them then they thought they would be able too. He knew she was a killer, but the people she's killed were to save his life. Now he wouldn't trust anyone else to have his back the way she does.

* * *

A few days later they were sitting on his couch. "Did he hurt you?" He asked turning to look at her. "Danny, did that bastard hurt you?" He knew she didn't want to talk about it, but that was only thought on his mind since he first saw the mark.

She sighed, "Danny...Danny was their enforcer" She replied "When someone wasn't doing their job, he came into make sure they did it"

He clenched his fists when he heard that. "Did he…" he tried to speak with his teeth gritted.

"A few times" She answered softly. She could feel the anger radiating off of him. "I'm not innocent in this, James" She continued. "I killed him…and…I let his wife die"

James stared at a spot on the wall in front of him. He knew all about revenge. "I killed the wrong man" he said still staring at the wall. "I was so hell bent on getting vengeance for my parents deaths, that if it involved them I could see nothin' else"

Juliet sat in silence as he continued. "This guy I used to work for, he told me he found the man that killed my parents. I didn't do nothin' to verify that he was telling the truth I just went there and I killed him" He hadn't told that to anyone since it happened and it felt good sharing it with someone that could understand, someone that wouldn't judge him.

Juliet placed her hand on his and he held on to hers and they sat there holding on to each other.


	3. The First Time they kissed

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

The first time they kissed they were laughing. They had just finished dinner and sat down to watch a video tape that Jason one of the mechanics she worked with had given her. They had become close friends since they found themselves stranded together. So this was a routine night for them, James would come over to her house or she would go to his. They had found comfort in just being near each other. James smiled at her and popped in the player. He pressed the appropriate buttons and joined her on the couch. They looked at each other as the theme music started up.

"I didn't know, I swear" she told placing her hand over her face.

"_Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip_

_That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny Ship._

_The mate was a mighty sailin' man, the Skipper brave and sure,_

_Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour._

_A three hour tour."_

James was smiling too thinking of all the shows this guy could've gave them it had to be this one. Or maybe the guy did it as a joke since there were five of them. They both stared at the television screen as the theme song continued.

"_So this is the tale of our castways,_

_they're here for a long, long time_

_they'll have to make the best of things,_

_it's an uphill climb._

_The first mate and his Skipper too,_

_will do their very best,_

_to make the others comfortable,_

_in their tropic island nest."_

Juliet fell back into the couch laughing, she was laughing so hard she fell onto James' shoulder. He had his arm around her and was laughing harder than he had in a long time. Then their eyes met, their breathing was still labored from laughing and James looked at her and wiped a stray hair away from her face gently with his hand. She looked up at him and they both leaned forward until their lips met. He ran his hand through her hair and the kiss intensified. Juliet remembered turning her body to face him and then somehow she was on his lap and his hands were under her shirt running up her back. Her lips parted and she tasted his tongue. They pulled away and were breathing heavily while looking into each other's eyes. Juliet rolled off of him and they sat there next to each other in silence staring ahead but not really seeing anything. They finally looked at each other, their hearts still racing, still speechless.

"Well…" She began.

"Yea" he replied

She stood up. "Maybe you should go…before anything else happens"

"Why?" he asked confused.

She paced around the room for a bit and then turned to face him with her hands resting on her hips. "Because I know how you feel about her, James"

James stood up. "You know what I look forward to every day now?" he asked her. She looked at him. "Seein' you, it's the highlight of my day, I can't wait to get off of work and come over here or wait for you to come over to me." He walked closer to her. "I want to tell you about my day, I want to talk to you and I want to hear about yours and I know those are the things I never cared about doin' before I met you, Juliet"

She closed her eyes when he said her name; she loved hearing it with his southern twang. "I've been burned so many times before. I was always second to someone else. I can't go through that again" She looked down towards the ground.

James looked away closed his eyes and looked back at her. "We didn't meet in the best of circumstances" James walked over to her and placed his hand on her cheek "But I know one thing...this…us…it feels…."

"Right" she finished for him.


	4. The First Time they made love

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

The first time they made love it was raining. They both had the day off and the five of them went to the beach for some much needed relaxation. They had made friends with people in the Dharma Imitative as well. But they couldn't talk about how they got there and about the rest of their people with them. So it was the five of them that shared that information. She always thought it was funny because before the freighter exploded and they started time traveling they were five strangers. Sure Jin and James knew each other for 108 days, but Jin barely spoke a word of English for most of that. She had just come to their camp from the one that was trying to kill them and the freighter people came after her. So they were five strangers that were stuck together having to survive. And now the five of them were a family.

James and her friendship had grown deeper with each passing day; they found it easy to talk to one another. They were partners, they were friends, and then one day they were more they just didn't quite have a label for it yet.

Jin, Miles and Daniel had left before them, because James wanted to go for one last swim. He asked her to stay with him so she did. It started drizzling on their trek back but it felt good after being in the sun all day. By the time they saw the yellow houses of Dharmaville (James' nickname for it) the rain was coming down hard, they were soaked and they could barely see where they were going. They ran laughing and smiling into James' house.

James watched Juliet laughing as she shook the rain from her hair and sprayed him with it. So he moved closer and returned the favor and shook his head in her direction. "I can play that game too" he couldn't help but smile she looked stunning even soaking wet. Her hair had started to curl around her face. His heart rate sped up and his breathing increased as he looked into her blue eyes, she was standing inches from him smiling. He didn't even know who made the first move but suddenly he felt her lips on his. Her hands were on the sides of his face and his were around her waist as he pulled her closer deepening the kiss. Her hands were on his chest and they both pulled away. "James" she whispered with her head resting against his. "Juliet" he whispered back. That's all they said before their lips met again. Their mouths strained together, tongues battling for dominance. They walked backwards until they hit the door frame leading into the bedroom. He pushed her up against it her arms went over her head as he slid her shirt off and then back to his chest unbuttoning his and throwing it on the ground. With his hands around her waist he slowly led her to the bed

The rain came down in sheets…hard… unrelenting. Everything was drowned out, the sound of the rain as it hit the window next to the bed. The only sound they heard was their own heavy breathing. Every touch, every shift of his weight felt incredible like nothing she had ever experienced before.

Afterwards coming down from the clouds now, sweating ... James tenderly brushed long strands of blonde hair out of her eyes. She had her arms around his neck looking up at him, the moonlight glistened off her skin and he leaned in and kissed her again. Nuzzling one another still joined, they lay quietly under the covers snuggled down on the soft mattress of the warm bed and wrapped in each other's arms.


	5. The First Time they said I love you

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

The first time he knew he loved her was when he was passing by the garage. He saw her stand up and wipe her head leaving a small grease mark across her forehead. She was wearing a bandana with her long blonde hair poking out underneath and she was wearing her dark blue Dharma coveralls and he noticed from fifty feet away that her eyes were bluer then he had ever noticed before. Then she smiled at him when she saw him and his heart felt like it skipped a beat and he couldn't control his reaction to smile back. For the first few months he would lie awake and think of her, think of what could've been. And he didn't know when Juliet's face replaced Kate's, but he didn't feel the emptiness he thought he would feel when it did, he felt fuller. This feeling he felt was something he hadn't felt in a long time. For the first time he was happy and it was because of her.

Juliet looked up and saw James walking by. She knew she just put grease on her head but James didn't even seem to notice from the way he was looking at her. Since being on this island she closed herself off to everyone. And occasionally she opened up parts of her but never too much. With Goodwin she never told him what she was feeling, she let him think she was happy there with him, she wasn't. He was a comfort when she needed comforting. She cared for him but she didn't love him. She let herself feel for Jack but she didn't share herself with him. She was still afraid to really open herself to another person until James, so for the first time in a long time she let herself feel everything all the pain, the guilt, the worry and the sadness, then the joy, the laughter and the happiness. She loved him.

They knew that they both had done bad things in the past and that they weren't proud of them. She wouldn't let him forget those things and he wouldn't let her forget hers. They talked about everything, never holding anything back. There was no fear of being judged or being afraid of what they would say. They felt that together a weight had been lifted off of them.

* * *

"Happiness is not the absence of problems but the ability to deal with them."

* * *

The first time he told her he loved her was the first time he heard it back. She had just gotten out of the shower. She had one towel wrapped around her and the other was drying her hair. He was leaning on his elbow on the edge of the bed staring at her. She gave him a playful smile and that was all he needed. He jumped up and had his arms around her waist.

"James" she said as he gently pushed on the bed and he was on top of her staring into her eyes. Juliet's arms instinctively went around his neck. She pulled him closer feeling all of him against her thigh. James leaned down and brought his lips to hers. He kissed her softly…gently…intimately. Eyes closed he could smell her sweet scent and the way her hands pressed into the small of his back made him shiver.

"I love you, Juliet" he said pulling his mouth from hers.

"I love you too, James" she replied back.

The moment those words left her mouth, he knew he'd remember them forever. He looked at her with such tenderness and desire and love it made her hurt inside. The way she looked at him made him feel like nothing in the world mattered but them. They fit together so well, it was almost perfect.


	6. The First Time she saw him

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

Ch 6.

The first time she saw him, he met her at the moterpool so they could walk to the mess hall together."So ya show 'em any future knowledge about cars yet?" he asked with a smile. Juliet just rolled her eyes and smiled. A brunette boy and girl ran past them and they stepped back so they wouldn't get knocked over.

"Well lookey that, Harry Potter lives on the island" James said jokingly at the boy appearance. His hair was a mess and he had on glasses that were too big for his head. Juliet raised her eye brow at him.

"What?" He asked her.

"Nothing" she said smiling to herself.

They kept walking and he looked at her to ask. "Ya never read Harry Potter?"

"I did, I just didn't think you would" she says.

"I happened to find it somewhere and so I just read it" he answered.

"Sure" She said incredulously nodding her head laughing

"I did" he said pleading his case. She just continued nodding her head.

The same boy ran up from behind them and knocked into her. "So…sorry" he mumbled out, pushing up his glasses. She smiled at him "It's ok" he smiled back at her and they continued walking.

A man ran past them and screamed "BEN!"

Juliet stopped in her tracks at the sound of his name. Her breathing had increased rapidly. It took James a few seconds to register what was happening. "Son of…that's Ben?" he asked her already knowing the answer.

Her face had gone white and she looked like she was going to pass out. He grabbed onto her, led her to a bench and sat her down. Juliet sat on the bench completely still. He sat there next to her not knowing what to do. She got up suddenly and started walking away.

"Juliet" he called out to her and she ignored him. "Juliet"

She opened the door to her house and walked in; he followed and closed the door behind him. She stood in the middle of the living room ringing her hands together. "I thought he was gone" she said barely above a whisper.

"He is, that's not him, least not yet" He replied standing across from her.

"That boy is…Ben" She said her face scrunching up and tears starting to flow down her face. "He knew me" she says. "He knew who I was before I met him" she says rubbing her hand over her face and then through her hair, looking up at him with tears in her eyes.

Juliet sank down on the couch and he walked over to join her. She fell into his lap and cried. James didn't know what to do; he kept his putting his hand over head not knowing if he should touch her head or rub her shoulder. He used to know what to do when the women he was conning got upset, he'd use charm and words of encouragement. But Juliet was different, she wasn't someone he was trying to con and he had no idea what she was going through. He knew Ben was an evil bastard, but he had no idea what Juliet's relationship to him was. She hadn't said much about her time with the Others. He figured she'd tell him when she wanted too. They were similar that way, building a wall around themselves and never letting anyone in. They had been with Dharma for three weeks now so he really didn't know her that well. Just that she was brilliant, brave and has wicked aim with a gun. He wanted to help her; he wanted to tell her that it was going to be ok. But he had no idea if it was.

He finally settled on gently running his hand down her shoulder and sitting in silence with her.


	7. The First Time he asked her to move in

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

The First Time he asked her to move in with him he was tracing the scar on her back with is his fingers. He was leaning on his elbow with the blanket around his waist while she was lying on her stomach with her head resting on her arms. It was Sunday and they both had day off of work.

"You know this is stupid" he starts.

"What? The Dharma Initiative?" She asks.

"Yes, the damn Dharma Initiative. That's what I'm thinking about while lying in bed with you!" She turns over onto her stomach covering herself with the blanket.

"What ya doing that for?" He asks smirking at her.

She just looks at him and waits for him to get it.

He bows his head. "I'm sorry for snapping at ya…but it was dumb question"

"True" She says smiling "What's stupid?"

"This, us sleeping over at each other's houses all the time, it'd be easier if we lived in one house" He tells her.

"James, are you asking me to move in with you?" She says giving him a sly smile.

He loved hearing the soothing the sound of her voice when she talked. When she said his name, he would try and remain stoic, try to convey seriousness. But she could always see desire lurking in his eyes. "Yeah" He says rolling on top of her staring into her eyes. She purses her lips like she's thinking about it. He relaxes his hold, disappointed, and then she pushes him off and rolls on top of him.

"Yes, James I'll move in with you" He smiles up at her. And she leans down to kiss him. He growls and pushes her back on to her back and she screams in laughter. His mouth moved down along the edge of her neck, her collarbone. Tasting, nibbling. He felt her vocal chords vibrate through his lips when the first "mmmm's" escaped her throat.

He brought himself back to her lips and kissed her again a sensual, lingering kiss that he knew she desired. His tongue leisurely traced the line of her lips and then stroked along the roof of her mouth in a pattern she couldn't follow. Her own tongue fluttered frantically against his, trying to increase his speed and intensity. But he resisted her silent insistence, and soon his hands started to move over her body just as slowly as his tongue was exploring her mouth. She ran her hands down his back pressing him closer to her, the way she moved her body against his, so insistent and warm. His body found it the most impossible thing in the world to refuse.


	8. TheFirstTime he talks about his daughter

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

The First Time he talked about his daughter they were sitting on a bench watching the kids play on the playground. He was grabbing onto the edge of the bench tightly."I have a daughter" he tells her without looking at her. Juliet slowly turns her head towards him.

"Clementine" he continues "Don't know why she picked that name" he says still staring ahead. He doesn't say anything else for awhile. Then he turns to her "Did you know?" he asks.

She looks away and down at the ground then back at him. "Yes"

"Figured" He says "I asked her…Kate…to find her…to take care of her" He closes his eyes and remembers telling Kate grabbing her for a last kiss and jumping out. Juliet places her hand gently on his.

"Do you think she will?" He asks

"Yes" Juliet says "She cares about you James, if you told her to find your daughter, then she will find your daughter" She had read James' file on Clementine and Cassidy. When she first met James she tazered him. He was stubborn. She tried to give him water another time and he poured it out all while staring her straight in the eyes. She saw then that they were the same. Always putting up a barrier to protect themselves.

He just nods and watches Charlotte laughing and running around the playground. Seeing her now, it was hard to imagine the woman she'd grow up to be. It was hard to imagine what Clementine would grow up to be like. "Course she's not even born yet" he says

"Too you, she is" Juliet says. James notices the sadness in her voice when she says that. He turns to look at her and she is also staring at the children playing. He looks away then back. "Juliet?"

"What?" She replies not looking at him.

"When you wanted to get on the Sub…who were you trying to get back too?"

"How do you know it was somebody, maybe I just wanted to leave this damn island" she says still not looking at him.

"I can read people pretty well and the look on your face was about more then goin' home" he continues "There's _someone_ you want to go home _too_"

She leans back against the bench. "I have a sister, Rachel" James leans back against the bench with her. "When I came here she was two months pregnant"

James hung his head down and closed his eyes. "I was only supposed to be here for six months" she sighs. "She had little boy, she named him Julian…for me" Juliet says facing him.

"How do you know that?" He asks

"Ben…he showed me" she says "Richard was in Miami and he was videotaping my sister playing with her son in a park"

"What?" James said furrowing his brows.

"He was watching them" She says calmly "That's when he told me to find out how many of the women in your plane crash were pregnant"

James closed his eyes again. He didn't understand her at all when they first met. He thought she was exactly like them. But she never was. That son of bitch was threatening her family and she was protecting them. He put his arm around her shoulder and brought her closer to him. She leaned down and rested her head on him. They sat there watching the children run around without a care in the world.


	9. The First Time they danced

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

The First Time they danced was too "Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" by Gladys Knight and The Pips. He remembered his mother crying to this song when he was little. He never paid much attention to it. But now he was listening to it while Juliet swayed in his arms.

I've had my share,  
Of life's ups and downs,  
but fates been kind,  
the downs have been few,

I guess you could say,  
I've been lucky,  
Or I guess you could say,  
That it's all because of you.

They had been stuck in the seventies for almost a year now. And he couldn't imagine what he would've done had Juliet gotten on that Sub and left him. He tried not to show it at the time but he was terrified and he was silently begging her not leave him. He didn't want to be alone; he knew that he wouldn't actually be alone. With Mr. Sixth Sense, Doctor Who and Jin. But for those four days they flashed back and forth through time Juliet was the only that was there for him, she had his back. Like no one's ever had. He pulled her closer and she rested her head on his shoulder.

Juliet was trying to ignore his musky scent as he laid her head down. This was crazy she kept telling herself. She had a chance to leave the island but he looked at her with those sad puppy dog eyes and she couldn't say no. She never fell for the charming guy because she was smart enough to know that they were all liars. But even then she still fell for assholes. She laughs out loud.

"What's funny?" James asks her as he closes his eyes the scent of her lavender shampoo filling his senses.

"Nothing" She replies. "Just listening to this song reminds me that I could be listening to this song right now as a toddler"

"I was thinking that too" he says letting out a little laugh.

When James asked her stay, at first she just ignored him and told him he'd be fine. But when he asked "who's gonna get my back" she turned around to look at him. And in that moment she saw that it wasn't an act, he wasn't trying to be charming. He pretending that he was but his eyes were saying something different, they were almost pleading with her to stay. So she said fine and now two weeks had turned into a year. And she liked being with him, being near him.

If anyone should ever write my life story,  
for whatever, for whatever reason there might be,  
you'd be there, between each line of pain and glory,  
Cos your the best thing that ever happened to me,  
Oh your the best thing that ever happened to me,  
don't you know, your the best thing....  
Oh that ever happened,  
to me.

The song ended and they held onto each other a few seconds longer they should've. Juliet pulled away first. She walked away and went to wish Horace a happy birthday. James went to her and said the same thing to his boss. She told Horace that she had a great time but she had to get up early for work the next morning.

He walked her to her door and stood there while she opened it. She walked in and turned around with her hand resting on the door. "I'll see you tomorrow" she tells him.

"Ok" he says "Tomorrow" even though his heart is racing and he's disappointed. He didn't want the night to end there. But he turned around to leave, than stopped. "Wait!" he says and she opens the door again. "What do ya wanna do tomorrow?" he asks.

She thinks for a moment. "Jason said he had a video he thought we'd like to watch, so I guess we can watch that" she replies.

"Watch a video, ok" he says "Goodnight, Juliet"

"Goodnight, James" she says as the door closes.

He's still smiling as he walks the few feet to his house.


	10. The First Time they talked Kate and Jack

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep.

* * *

Ch 10

The first time they talked about Kate and Jack was when they were walking through the jungle looking for Locke. Horace gave them two weeks to search for their missing members so they had to go out and search. They had no idea when or where Locke would be or if he would even make it back. But Sawyer knew that John would find a way after all he loved the island more then he loved anything else.

"Carlson?" He asked after they had been walking for awhile. That was the name she had given Horace when he asked.

"Should I have gone with Capulet" She replies with a smirk.

He smiled to himself knowing he would get a sarcastic reply from her.

"Where did you pull LaFleur from?" She asked him curiously.

"I heard it once when I was in New Orleans, thought it sounded cool" he replied. He was in a bar in New Orleans when he heard the name; LaFleur was the name of the town loan shark. When the people spoke his name it was with respect and fear. Jim LaFluer sounded like someone important, someone people count on.

"Really?" She said raising her eyebrows at him. "It means the flower" she said with a smile

"I know what it means" he said staring at her as they walked.

Juliet laughed. "It's my maiden name" she finally said

"You're married" He said walking faster to catch up to her since he slowed down when she said that.

"Was married, I'm divorced" she said "I was divorced way before I came here" she continued walking.

"Did ya love him?" He asked suddenly surprised at himself for asking.

She slowed down as she thought about that. _Did she love him?_ During their marriage the hatred she had from turned to indifference. _But did she ever love him?_ "Honestly… I don't know" she answered.

Sawyer was confused now "How do ya not know, ya married him?"

"I was young; we met when we were both starting a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He was smart and we were lab partners" She said, when she met him he was nice and dorky like her. He wasn't the best looking; he was short and had a very distinct face. But she never went for looks anyway. She wanted men with a brain. When he died, she was upset but she didn't believe it was because she loved him.

Sawyer looked at her and waited for her to continue.

"He cheated on me… multiple times" she said without the hint of sadness.

Sawyer stopped and looked at her. She walked a bit further before turning around. He had a look of shock on his face. He couldn't imagine someone cheating on her, not if they didn't want their ass kicked.

"Don't worry about it, it was a long time ago" She had gotten over it quickly, their marriage was over as soon as it began. "Edmund loved power more than he ever loved me, I was always the second choice" she told him. "Do you love her?" she asked him so she could stop talking about her ex.

He closed his eyes when she asked him that. He thought of her. He saw his hands running through her mess of curls, felt the taste of her lips on his. "Yes" he tells her.

Juliet smiles it was nice to hear someone say it, even if it wasn't for her.

"But it don't matter" he finished.

"Why?" she asks turning to look at him as he keeps his face staring forward. She saw the way Kate and Sawyer were together, she wished she knew it what it was like to have someone look at her the way he looked at Kate. She had no idea what was wrong with Kate since she couldn't see it.

"She didn't love me" He said strongly. He saw it in her eyes when she looked at him, it wasn't there all the time but sometimes he could see it. It was a look of disgust, like she hated herself for being with him; she hated herself for enjoying spending time with him. It wasn't like he didn't make it easier for her to be like that, he pushed her away too. He didn't feel he deserved her after everything he's done; he didn't even deserve to have some care about him. "There were moments where she was with me, than they would be gone and it was like she woke up or somethin' and she wanted to be somewhere else…with someone else." He continued still staring straight ahead.

Juliet knew that feeling all too well. "Jack" she said softly.

Sawyer nodded. "I thought you and he had somethin' going on" He saw them hanging out and he saw what it did to Kate. She used him to get over her jealousy or to try and make Jack jealous.

"I thought so too" she answered. "There were moments where I thought Jack wanted to be with me, but I was wrong; there was only one woman he was thinking of when he was"

"Yo, Romeo and Juliet when you're done talking about your tragic love lives, can we go back now?" Miles asked them. "Or do we have to spend another five hours looking for our non-existent crew from our non-existent ship?"

James turned around to face Miles and felt Juliet's hand on his arm. "He's right James, it's going to get dark soon we should probably head back." She tells him in calming voice. "It's going to rain soon too"

"Do you have a barometer on ya, how do you always know what the weather is?" he asks her .

She just smiles and he smiles back and looks out in the distance and sighs and looks at Juliet as the first drops of rain start to fall. "All right, we'll mark this spot then start from here tomorrow"

"I can't wait!" Miles says in fake excitement.


	11. TheFirstTime he talked about his mother

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep."

* * *

Ch 11

The first time they talked about his childhood they had decided to eat dinner outside."I said I wanted mine medium" She said jokingly as he ran up to the grill to remove the steaks. He tilted his head to the side to look at her.

"And who's fault was that?" he asked her. She looked at him with a challenge in her eyes. "You attacked me, remember?" he said with a grin as he walked over to her with the plate in his hand. He kept walking until she sank down onto the bench. He placed the plate down slowly making sure to get as close to her as he could. He brought his mouth to hers, he opened it and she opened hers. He hovered over her lips without touching them; her eyes were closed, her body was relaxed waiting for him. He smiled as he could feel she was getting impatient. He pulled away. "Forgot the beers" he said and walked away to get them.

She sat back up and looked at him as he came back. "If you hadn't had the sudden urge to take me on the lawn chair over there, ya could'a had your steak medium" He told her and she smiled, stood up grabbed her beer from him then grabbed his shirt with her hand, pulled him to her and kissed him.

After dinner they laid out on a blanket on the grass. He was lying on his back with one hand behind his head, she was doing the same, they watched the sunset turn into night. They were both were silent as they looked up at the stars.

"I never listened to my mother" he said suddenly "When I was little…whenever she told me not to do somethin' I was went right ahead and did it."

Juliet turned her head slowly towards him. He got quiet again but she could tell from the way he was breathing that he wasn't done talking. She continued looking up at the stars with him, knowing that he would continue when he was ready.

James looked up then he looked at Juliet. She was staring straight ahead but he knew she was listening, she always was. When you talked to her, when anyone talked, she listened.

"When she came to me one day and grabbed my shoulders and told me to get under the bed and to stay there no matter what I heard. I listened." He took a deep breath the pain of that day coming back to him. "I heard my dad's footsteps and I knew they were the angry ones…" He closed his eyes and she could feel his body tense up. "That first sound I heard…that first loud bang. I wanted to run out there…and protect to her…" he swallowed "Like I was supposed to, I was supposed to protect to her…but I didn't… I stayed"

Juliet closed her eyes; she couldn't even begin to imagine what he went through that night. The sheer pain of his loss is something she's never experienced. She feels the tears start to gather at the corner of her eyes. She placed her hand over his; he was shaking.

"He came into my room…I couldn't move…then I heard another bang and I felt the bed sink down from his weight." He paused again and took more deep breathes. The memory wasn't a strong one but the details where there. The picture was blurry, but the sounds, the smells, the feelings were what he remembered.. "The only time I listened was the last time I heard her voice." his own voice cracked as finished. He felt the first tear drop down his cheek, a weakness he doesn't often afford himself, and only ever does allow when he's with her.

Juliet let go of his hand and cuddled up close to him. She placed her hand on his chest; she could feel his heart beating rapidly. She brought her hand to his face and slowly turned his head she sees the intense vulnerability in his eyes as he looks at her. For the first time she sees the scared little boy hiding under his bed. "James, it's not your fault" her voice tells him softly, the soothing tone of her voice bringing him back from the memory. He looks at her and brings his arm around her and bringing her closer. For the longest time the sounds of a car back firing or someone kicking a garbage can brought him back to that day. He could swear he smelled the gun powder and he'd fall to the ground terrified that it was turn. He knew deep down that if is father had found him he would've died too. That was the message his mother was telling him with her eyes, she was doing what mothers do, protecting him. He did blame himself for not doing anything to save her, he never told anyone about what happened that night. When the cops came he couldn't speak, he didn't want to talk to the psychiatrists or counselors they made him see and Kate had read his letter but he never talked about it. She laid her head on his chest as he placed his hand over hers. Having her in his arms made it seem like everything was going to be fine. He never knew what it meant to share yourself with someone, to let them inside, to let them see all of you. He didn't have to hide his his demons, his pain, his fears.


	12. The First Time they played poker

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

Ch 12

The First Time they played poker they were sitting at the kitchen table. Poker just didn't have the excitement he was looking for it way to easy to con people out of their money with a card game. So he rarely played. So when Juliet suggested poker he was hesitant, but she sweetened the deal by saying they could play strip poker His face lit up. "Alright, then"

Now sitting in front of her in nothing but his boxers he was starting to regret agreeing to play with her. She was very good and he prided himself on reading people he could tell when they were hiding their excitement when they had a good hand and he could see them fake their excitement when they didn't. But so far Juliet was one that he found very difficult to read. She could hide emotions like no one he's ever met. Her calm exterior and blank face made it impossible for him to call her bluffs. And to make matters harder the first hand he did win she took of her shirt. She slowly undid every button with a seductive smile on her face making all the blood rush in a different direction. He found it so much harder to concentrate with her sitting there like that.

He held the cards in his hands and looked over at her; she stared back at him without the slightest bit emotion showing on her beautiful face. He looked down at his chip pile and slid one of them forward. She matched his bet and laid down a full house. He pretended to be upset and placed his hand on top of hers to keep her from collecting her chips and laid down his cards a six of spades and four queens "You're turn" he said with a grin.

She smiled back at him, stood up and he hears a soft _pop_ as the button comes undone and she starts to unzip her bell-bottoms. He has to hold back a groan as she shimmies out of her jeans, he swallows as he watches her hands slide them down her thighs agonizingly slow. He closed his eyes and breathed deep trying to concentrate on something else. "Ah, hell" he finally said and stood up throwing his chair back. He went over to her quickly and stood in front of her. He saw the same hunger in eyes, the game was over. She moved her hands up his chest and around his neck. His hands went to her waist as he brought her lips to his. Juliet opened her mouth slightly to deepen the kiss. They started walking backwards knocking a lamp over on their way to the couch. They fell to the couch with a soft thud and she broke away from him to look at him now the desire in their eyes told them everything they needed to know about each other. He leaned back down to take her mouth with his.

Afterwards she lay wrapped in his arms and he kissed the top of her head. "I have to say poker was never that much fun" he said looking down at her while she rubbed her hand along his chest.

"You just weren't playing it right" she said smiling slyly at him. He laughed as she pulled herself up to kiss him again.


	13. TheFirstTime she talked about her job

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

Ch 13

The first time she told him about the pregnancy problem she was sitting on her back porch. It was early in the morning s the sun had yet to rise; she was sitting with her feet up on the chair hugging her knees to her chest. She sees his khaki uniform out of the corner of her eye as he approaches her.

"Couldn't sleep" he says sitting down on the chair next to her. They watched the glow of the dawn through the trees before she spoke. "I'm a miracle worker" she tells him.

"Are you now?" he asks leaning back in his chair sticking out his legs and crossing his ankles.

"That's what they called me…the women I helped" she says closing her eyes. "I never did it for the money"

"How much did ya make?" he asks curiously.

"About seven hundred and fifty thousand a year" she tells him calmly.

He whistles in amazement. "Well, I was in the wrong profession" he says with a smile.

She laughs despite herself; she knew she made a lot of money. She lived in a condo overlooking the beach. Not that she had much time to enjoy it; she threw herself into her work. "The money never mattered to me....it wasn't even about fixing someone I did for the thrill of doing something that someone said was impossible"

"…Well did ya…do something impossible" he asks after she had gone quiet.

She takes a breath looks at him over her shoulder. "I made a male mouse pregnant" she watches as he takes what she said in and she sees that he doesn't know whether to believe her not. They've been sarcastic with each other since they started time jumping.

He looks at her and cocks his eyebrow up. "A…male…mouse, like a boy… mouse?" he asks still having trouble believing her.

"Yes, he didn't carry to term"

"Why, not?" He asked interested.

"Because he couldn't, I had to end the pregnancy because it was damaging his liver"

"Were you tryin' to get males pregnant?" He asks a little afraid of what her answer would be.

She smiles and looks at him for awhile before answering. "No, I just wanted to see if it was possible…just for mice" she says reassuring him. She watched him let out a sigh of a relief and could just imagine what was going on his mind. "I wanted to do things no one else could and I was good at my job, probably the best" she tells him continuing. "A woman… came to me because her cancer had gone into remission" She sighs "She wanted to have a baby and all her doctors said she should look for other options, the chemo had made her barren"

He sits up and turns to look at her, to listen.

"She was told it would be impossible and that's when she came to me" She says staring straight ahead at the tress in front of them. "I threw myself into solving the problem, I worked day and night…I even stole equipment from the lab to take it home and work on it." He watches her as she stares out at the landscape in front of her. Her voice betrays her as she tries to hide the tears. She closed her eyes and smiled to herself. "And…I did it"

She feels his gaze on her, but she can't bring herself to look at him.

He watches the rise and fall of her shoulders as she takes a deep breath. "I'm sure your sister thanks you every day for what you did for her"

She whips her head around to look at him. "It was the way you spoke about it" he says answering the question she had yet to ask. "You weren't talkin' about any patient, there was sadness in your voice the same sadness ya had when you first told me about Rachel" Juliet looked at him then turned away. "That why she named him after you; because that why he exists…you did the impossible"

She let her legs fall back to the ground and she leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and looked towards the ground. "I failed" She said softly. "They brought me here to be a miracle worker and failed, I couldn't solve the problem that they had…here" she continued to stare at the ground, she laughed. "They worked so hard to bring me here" He watched as she started rubbing her hands together. "But I couldn't, not this time" She swallowed. "Nine women" she said feeling her chest tighten. "Nine women died because I couldn't solve it"

"That wasn't your fault…"He started to say.

"I know that's what everyone told me, they said they wanted to get pregnant and they knew the risks" she said repeating what Ben had told her. "They knew the risks, but they looked at me. They looked at me to solve it before they died, they wanted to get pregnant because they wanted to have a child and I was supposed to make that happen" She closed her eyes then opened them to look at him. "I gave up"

He looks at her without saying anything.

"I gave up a long time ago, I just went through the motions. Ben had finally exceeded in getting what he wanted from me but not in the way he wanted." She laughed again. "He broke my will, my will to fight, my will to solve the impossible" She looked back at the ground. "It always hurts when you lose someone, but if you lose them when they look at you to save them, it's not as easy to let go" She closes her eyes and swallows. "I used to love my job...love what did I for people that I helped....nothing made me happier than telling a woman that she's going to be a mother" She closes her eyes letting the tears fall "...he made me...hate it.

James stood up and walked over to her and bent down to her level. He places his hand on her on back and gently brought her forward until her head fell against his chest, he put her arm around her and held her. He hated to see her in pain and now he knew why she screamed at him when he said he'd tell Horace she was the ships doctor. She made him promise not to talk about her being a doctor to anyone. The look in her eyes scared him and he agreed without questioning her. But now he understood more than he wanted too. She could no longer live with herself the way she was, she wanted to be different and he felt the same. He held her until she pushed him away and stood up. She wiped her hands across her eyes to dry her tears and pulled her zipper of her jumpsuit all the way up. He looked up at her and at the wrench logo on her dark blue jumpsuit and the words motorpool underneath. She held her hand out to him to help him up and they walked to their stations, their new lives as Juliet Carlson, Mechanic and Jim LaFleur, Security.


	14. The First Time he heard her sing

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

Ch 14

The first time he heard sing, she was drunk. They were at their annual 4th of July BBQ. One of them had bought a Karaoke machine on one of his trips to the mainland. They were all so excited about it; he had to remember that Karaoke was new in the 70's. He enjoyed his beer and watched as a group of people embarrassed themselves up on the stage. He was taking a sip of his beer when he saw Juliet walk past him and go up on the stage. His eyes widened in shock, that woman had no fear. He thought to himself.

She was actually having fun for the first time in a long time as she watched Amy and her friends singing the most hilarious version of "Knock Three Times". Amy got off the stage and sat down next to her.

"You should go give it a try, Juliet. It's fun" Amy told her.

She never was brave enough to sing Karaoke when she younger, she wasn't even brave enough when she was older. Rachel loved going to Karaoke bars and she went to support her sister. But she always held her ground when they tried to get her up there. She looked at Amy than at the stage. She took a deep breath, downed her beer and stood up. Amy and the other woman at her table cheered for her as she walked to the stage. She passed James and gave him a quick smile and walked over to the machine and picked the song she wanted.

The song started up and she took a deep breath and exhaled. She always heard that you should find someone in the audience that you feel comfortable with and stare at them while you're singing as if you were only singing to them. She saw Sawyer sitting at his table with Jin, Miles and Horace. He held his beer out to her and smiled.

"When you're alone  
And life is making you lonely,  
You can always go downtown  
When you've got worries,  
All the noise and the hurry  
Seems to help, I know, downtown"

Sawyer couldn't believe she went up there by herself, he was drunk himself but he didn't think he could sing in front this big of a crowd. He sat back in his chair and smiled at her. The song started up and he tilted his head to make sure he was hearing correctly. First she started singing softly then at the second verse she got louder. He was impressed, even drunk she sounded pretty good.

"Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city  
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty  
How can you lose?"

"The lights are much brighter there  
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares and go  
Downtown, things I'll be great when you're  
Downtown, no finer place for sure,  
Downtown, everything's waiting for you  
(Downtown)"

He just stared at her while she sang with a huge smile on his face and found himself moving along to the music.

"Don't hang around  
And let your problems surround you  
There are movie shows downtown  
Maybe you know  
Some little places to go to  
Where they never close downtown

Just listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossanova  
You'll be dancing with 'em too before the night is over  
Happy again"

Now she was really getting into it maybe it was the alcohol or maybe it was because she happy to not have to worry about anything. She took the microphone off the stand and started really singing it. She watched as they were all clapping along and joining in on the chorus.

"The lights are much brighter there  
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares and go  
Downtown where all the lights are bright,  
Downtown, waiting for you tonight,  
Downtown, you're gonna be alright now  
(Downtown downtown)"

"Downtown  
(Downtown)"

"And you may find somebody kind to help and understand you  
Someone who is just like you and needs a gentle hand to  
Guide them along"

Sawyer was smiling and laughing as the whole Dharma village got into Juliet's singing. He never really paid much attention to this song but he started singing along with everyone else.

"So, maybe I'll see you there  
We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares and go  
Downtown, things'll be great when you're  
Downtown, don't wait a minute more,  
Downtown, everything's waiting for you

Downtown (downtown) downtown (downtown)  
Downtown (downtown) downtown (downtown)  
(repeat and fade out)"

When the song ended everyone stood up and started cheering for her. Juliet smiled slightly biting her bottom lip. The entire time she was up there she didn't pay attention to anyone but James but now as she was looking at how many people she was singing in front she was starting to feel embarrassed. She walked off the stage as people were still cheering. She went back by Amy.

"Wow" Amy said to her as she sat down and tried to hide herself by sinking as far down in the chair as she could and hiding her face.

"I didn't know we were going to be treated to a concert that was amazing" Amy told her with a huge smile on her face.

'Really?" she said smiling to herself. She ran her hand through her hair and looked at James.

"You know, I though you two were married when we first met"

She looks at Amy "James and I?"

"Yes, I guess it's just the way you kept looking at each other when you were trying to decide what to do"

"We're just friends" she tells her. "Sure" Amy says nodding her head.

She looks over at him. "It's complicated" she tells her. She never thought they'd be friends, let alone him being the only person she could count on. She never thought it would his face that made her smile more then she has in a long time. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew she was falling for him.

His mouth was starting to hurt from all the smiling he was doing lately.

"She's better that I thought she'd be" Miles says after Juliet was done singing.

"Why?" Jin asks "She not look like she sing"

"Does not look like she can sing" Miles says correcting him and Jin repeats it.

James was ignoring them and watching Juliet trying to hide herself in her chair. When she looked at him with her elbow in front of her face so he could see her bright blue eyes his heart almost skipped a beat. She gave him a sly smile and he had to reposition himself closer to the table to hide the effect she was having on him.

"Why aren't the two of you together?" He hears Horace ask him.

"It's complicated" he replies back.

"Complicated, what's complicated about it?" Horace says "You're both single and she's either at your house or your at hers. Doesn't seem that complicated to me"

James looks at him, he would probably die from shock if he told him how complicated everything actually was for them, all of them. _The day we met she tazered me in the damn neck and locked me in bear cage! _He smiled at that thought. He was starting to feel like a teenager again, he didn't' know what was wrong with him. He always thought Juliet was an attractive woman, but the tazering and locking him in cages made him feel much differently about her. But during the time jumping he didn't know what he would've done without her. He knew something was changing in their relationship but he didn't know when it started. All he could do was think about her, think about what she was doing, what she was thinking.

She was sitting alone finishing her beer when he joined her. "Downtown, huh"

She looks at him, "Yep" she says leaning back and looking up at the sky. "It's my cheer me up song"

He nods his head down and smiles. "Did it work?"

She leans forward, puts her elbow on the table and rests her head in her palm. "I didn't need cheering up today, I just felt like singing it"

They both were quiet for a moment. "It's our seven month anniversary" he says "from when we stopped time traveling"

She holds her beer up and they clink them together. "Happy anniversary" She says and they both smile at each other.


	15. The First Time they fought

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." Walt Whitman

* * *

Ch 15

The First time they fought they both had a bad day. They had forgotten to go to the warehouse to pick up the groceries, so they had no food in the house. So they both were already tired and angry when they came home.

Juliet walked in the house first, she was covered in grease. A new recruit had arrived and thought he'd try to impress her by moving the wrench cart in the middle so it would be easier to access from all around the garage. She supposed it was partly her fault that she wasn't really listening to him. They were behind schedule and everyone seemed to be in a bad mood. But as her and Jason were carrying a new carburetor over to one of the van's she banged her knee right into it spilling its contents all over the garage and dropped the carburetor on Jason's foot, cracking the carburetor. Then they all started swearing at each other, then pushing each other about the mess they now had to clean up. Just like being a Doctor, being a mechanic is a man's world so she was used to all the testosterone and egos that came with working in that environment. She went up there to stop them and got hit in the face. So even though she'll now have a fat lip at least it stopped the fighting. Then she bent down to see if Jason's foot was broken before she remembered she wasn't supposed to be a doctor. So she sent two of them to take Jason to the infirmary while the rest of them cleaned up and put all the wrenches back on the cart. They were even more behind schedule now and she hated not being able to finish something she started. Then she had to now limp around and finish the van herself, while Mr. Chang and Radzinsky yelled at her for not having the van ready in time for to take to the new station they were building.

James sighed as heard music coming from the camera room. He didn't know how many times he had to tell Jeff to stop bringing girls into that room. Some of the guys had reported that the Hostiles were moving closer and closer to the sonic fence and he didn't know why. But he sure as hell didn't want some girl seeing them and running around screaming that to everyone causing mass chaos throughout the village. He put on his best angry face and kicked the doors open, scaring the both of them. They were both half dressed as they were scrambling around for their clothes. He knew his look alone had put fear into to Jeff. But he would be yelling at him later. He sees some of the kids playing over by the pylons and tells Jeff to go over and get them away from there. He rubs his hands over his face and sits down on the chair in front of the console. He's about to call Phil on the walkie when he sees the pylons start to spark. He pushes himself out his chair and starts running.

She had just kneeled down to check the engine one last time, when she heard the first scream. She dropped her tools and sprinted out garage towards the sound. Others were running with her, she saw the first kid on the ground and the second still holding on to the pylon. Amy, no don't touch him!" she screamed as she grabbed her before she could touch the boy. "Stay back, you don't want to be anywhere near this much electrical energy, it's bad for the baby"

Amy looked at her in shock wondering how she knew.

"Check his pulse" she told Ned one of the teachers as she ran to help the second boy. "She looked around and saw a thick branch and put it against the kid's chest and pushed him back. "Amy, turn of the fence, now!" she brought her fingers to the boy's neck.

"He's breathing" Ned said.

"Good, don't move him and cover him with something" she told him as she started chest compressions on the second boy. Amy stood by and watched her perform CPR. The boy started coughing and she asked for Amy's jacket to wrap him up in it. James came with the medical crew that took the two boys to the infirmary. Horace and the scientists were busy fixing the fence. She saw James talk to someone on his walkie and run off.

She was standing there with her arms crossed watching the whole scene when Amy came up to her. "You seemed to know how to handle that" she said to her. Juliet didn't look at her. "That doesn't seem like something a boat mechanic would know how to handle. So either you are a very calm person in emergencies or you have medical training" She still kept her eyes facing front. Are you a doctor, Juliet?"

She finally turned to face Amy. "I was" she tells her. "I'm not a doctor anymore" Amy stares at her. "It's a long story" She says hoping her face is telling her that she didn't want to talk about it now.

"What kind of Doctor were you?" she asks.

"Ob-gyn" she replies figuring that would be easier to explain than why she would have problems being a fertility doctor. It wasn't a complete lie she was Ob-gyn before she switched to fertility.

"Well, that would explain how you knew I was pregnant when I haven't told anyone yet"

"I'm sorry I lied" she says

"Hey, it's none of my business if you stopped being doctor to become a ship mechanic" she tells her as they walk back to village.

By the time she walked into the house it was 9 pm. She jumped the shower; this had been a hectic day it almost felt like she was in the real world. As real it could be with a sonic fence protecting them against a smoke monster. She walked into the kitchen after her shower to make something to eat. She opened it to find it empty.

After that pylon incident his day just go worse. Mr. Chang had radioed him to get to the Arrow station immediately they had a problem. He took Jin and Miles and they jumped into a jeep, but it wouldn't start. He yelled at one of the mechanics to get him another jeep one that worked this time. By the time they got there Radzinsky was in one of his moods, not that he had more than one.

"Do you not understand what now means?!" Radzinsky yelled at him when they walked over to him.

"What seems to be the problem, Stu?" He says gritting his name.

"The Hostiles were by the new site" He says pointing at the screens "And they broke my equipment!" he yells.

"And how is that my fault?" He tries to ask sounding calm. "Thompson's in charge of this area" he says pointing to his boss that was staring at the screens scratching his head.

"Thompson couldn't find his head if it wasn't attached to him, so now it is your problem" Chang says joining them. "Congratulations, LaFleur you've just been promoted to Head of Security"

"Now find a way to fix this" Radzinsky says getting in his face.

It took all the control he had to not punch him in the face right then. "Get new equipment then, what do ya need me for"

Chang walks over to him. "Now that you are in charge you can be invited into the Circle of Trust" Chang pulls him off to the side and starts telling him about the Swan station.

When he finally got home at 9:15 he was still angry, he had to sit there and listen Radzinsky talk about how important the damn Swan station will be and how protecting it is the most important thing he will ever do with his life. He slammed the door as he walked in.

"Did you get the groceries?" he heard Juliet say from the kitchen.

"What?" he said louder than he wanted. "No, I didn't get the damn groceries"

"You said you would do it after work tonight!" Juliet said joining him in the living room.

"Well, I didn't have time" he says back to her.

"You said you would get them after work, which is why you stayed out late last night playing football"

"What happened to your leg?" He asked when he noticed she was limping.

"It doesn't matter, James. All we have is one can of soup!" she says her voice rising. "And the kitchen's closed now"

"Nothin' stopped you from getting them" he says regretting those words the moment they left his mouth.

"It was your turn, James!" she says with anger in her eyes. "I've been running around since 4 am!"

"So have I" he screams back.

He sees her take a deep breath walk back into the kitchen to make the soup. He follows her in puts the bowls and spoons on the table. They ate their dinner in silence, and then washed the dishes in silence.

"I'll get the groceries in the morning" she tells him with anger still in her voice.

"No, I'll get them; it's my turn to get the damn groceries!"

"I don't know if I can trust you, I don't want to come home tomorrow and have no food!"

Then they started arguing again.

He woke up and moved his hand along Juliet's back, but all he got was the mattress. He opened his eyes to see that the bed was empty. He remembered that they had, had a fight the night before. "She couldn't still be angry, could she?" he asked himself as he put on his boxers. They yelled at each other until they started devouring one another, when they when they fell on the bed together, their kissing was frantic and ravenous, all the skill they possessed were overwhelmed by the need to devour each other. Their clothes were ripped off and thrown aimlessly on the floor. There was no thinking; it was almost like their animal instincts took over as they consumed each other. Afterwards exhausted they both just fell asleep.

He looked at the clock it was 5 am. He walks out of the bedroom and sees her sitting on the couch reading "The Third Policeman" the book they were reading for their book club. She was reading the book in nothing but his shirt with only three buttons, buttoned. She sure knew how to torture him, cause seeing her like that made him forgot what they were even fighting about. He watched her read the book; he knew what kind of woman lurked underneath that calm exterior and that is what excited him. He was sure that if he met her in the real world, she would've conned him out his own money.

Now he had to debate whether to go for it and have her get mad at him later for interruptin' or do nothin'. He his upper half would lose the battle anyway so he walked over and took the book out of her hands as she looked at him shocked. He placed it on the table and making sure not to lose her place cause that would be something he wouldn't want to deal with later. He kneeled down and placed his hand on the back of her neck to tangle in her hair at the base of her skull and brought his lips to hers. She resisted at first but then she kissed back. She brought her hand to the side of his face and that was all the invitation he needed. He got on top of her as she slid down underneath him.

Gasping for air as his mouth moved from her lips to her throat, Juliet arched her back, pressing her middle against him. He moaned as his hands slid down to unbutton those three buttons and slid the fabric halves aside. He took his mouth from hers as he propped himself up on his elbows and traced a trail from her collarbone to her navel with his fingers. He looked at her and saw the same desire that matched his. Tilting her head back, he took another kiss from that mouth of hers, his lips moving to leave a wet trail along her jaw, down her neck, down her chest kissing her lightly and nuzzling her flesh. Juliet moaned low in her throat and pushed her chest against his face as her hand grasped the back of his head forcing it where she wanted it to go. He growled as he kissed her lips again and she slid his boxers of him with her skilled hands and brought him to her. He never tried conning doctors before but with her he saw what he was missing they were very good with their hands. She whimpered as she tried to get even closer to him. They were driven by a need now, the need to get as close as possible to each other as if they were trying to occupy the same space at once. The fight they had forgotten all they wanted to be is near each other.

He had his head resting on her chest and hands were still clinging on to his back as they lay there."I got promoted" he tells her rubbing her stomach. "Head of Security" He feels her hand run down his hair.

"Congratulations" she says with a smile. "Amy knows I'm a Doctor"

"What?" he asks "How?"

"I couldn't wait for the doctors to get there, they're never around when you need them, I had to help those kids" He nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm sorry" he says looking up at her.

"I'm sorry too" she says back. "I had a bad day I shouldn't have taken it out on you"

He lightly traced the bruise on her lip. "I forgot about damn groceries, it's my fault"

"I could've picked them up last night; instead I stayed to talk to Amy" she says staring down at him.

"We could go pick them up now" he offers.

"We can go later" She says smiling. He pulls himself up and as she moves over so he can slide behind her. He buries his face in her hair and wraps his arm around her waist as she grabs his hand and holds it next to her chest. They fall asleep listening to each other breathe.


	16. The First Time they celebrated Christmas

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep.

* * *

The First Time they celebrated Christmas he wanted to surprise her. He makes himself busy cleaning the kitchen counters waiting for her to come home from work. When he hears the familiar creak of the door opening he drops the rag and waits by the doorframe in the kitchen.

She sighs she was happy to finally be off of a work, they only had a few minor mishaps today but it felt good when it was over. She opens the door and the pleasant aroma of evergreen hits her senses, confused she walks through the door and her eyes widen as she sees a Christmas tree standing in the living room. A smile spreads across her face and she looks to James who has entered the room not wanting to miss seeing her reaction. He smiles back at her with the dimples showing deep within in his cheeks.

The tree was massive and dwarfed the living room in their small house; it was pyramid shaped with strong upward-turned branches that were densely covered with two tone needles. The top side of the needle is dark green and the bottom side was silver. The trunk was nice soft brown that contrasted nicely with the red of the stand it was sitting in.

"James!" she exclaims with her hands covering her mouth, her eyes showing how big her smile was beneath them.

James never cared for holidays after the death of his parents and his uncle's idea of Christmas was getting drunk and giving him a pack of smokes. Getting marks on Christmas was difficult because that was when the housewives got the expensive gifts they've been waiting for all year so they would put on their fake smiles and suck up to their husbands for the seven hundred dollar purses or trips to the Caribbean. So most Christmas' he was alone and he spent his holidays in bars with the rest of loners. He knew he was miserable but acted like he wasn't. He'd drink himself into a stupor until the holidays were over and he could resume his work.

But being with Juliet this past year and living with her something changed within him. He found himself looking forward to spending his first holiday with her. In fact he'd been thinking about it for awhile. It had surprised him so much that he got drunk to see if the feeling would go away. Juliet was there to take care of him through his hellish hangover. Through his blurry eyes all he saw was his blond angel. There was never pity only the understood pain that they shared.

As a con man he prided himself on knowing how to make a woman happy after all that's how he got the job done. This time the only payout was Juliet's happiness and he when he saw the unadulterated joy in her eyes tears welled up in his own.

For three years she tried to ignore the holiday seasons and pretend they didn't exist. Holidays meant spending time with your family and friends and she wouldn't have considered any of those people her friends. She'd put in appearances at the parties and put on a fake smile when they passed her. As the years passed with each holiday she only got more depressed and lonely. She wanted to be with Rachel, she wanted to spend Christmas spoiling her sister's child. At that time she didn't know whether Rachel would've given birth to a boy or a girl. But she'd imagine the gifts she would get. She'd imagine Rachel scolding her for spending so much money on them but secretly loving everything. That would make her smile for a short awhile before she'd cry herself to sleep wishing the holiday season would be over.

She and James have been together for about four months, she moved in with him after three. For the first time she found herself smiling at the Christmas decorations being set up around Dharmaville, Christmas was in a week. She didn't talk to him about it because she knew he felt the same way about holidays so she figured they'd just spend the evening the same way they spent every evening. Just being with him was enough for her.

But when she walked into their house and saw the Christmas tree she couldn't form words for the effect the tree had on her.

"Do you like it?" James asks walking over to her. "I asked Howie to get a good a sized one and he comes back with a damn Paul Bunyan tree" he says "He knows how small the damn houses are"

"I think it's perfect, James" she says smiling and throwing her arms around his neck and planting a kiss on his lips.

"Ya sure?" he asks

"Yes" She replies kissing him again.

"Howie's taking the tree out of here when it's over. I had a hell of time getting it in here" he says showing her the cuts on his hands.

"It's a good thing your with a doctor" She says and holds his hand in hers and brings it to her mouth and starts kissing his fingertips with a sly smile on her face. He closes his eyes as the softness of her lips touches his skin. She puts her other hand on his chest and pushes him gently until they reach the bathroom where she applies some ointments on his cuts. She has to hold his hand tightly so he wouldn't rip it away from her every time she hovers the cotton swap over his hand.

"You're crushing my hand" he whines playfully.

"Then stop fidgeting" she tells him calmly.

He winces every time the ointment touches his skin and tries to loosen his hand from her grip "Don't you have one's that don't sting?"

"The stinging means its killing the bacteria. Now hold still I'm almost done" She drops his hand when she's satisfied that she cleaned them up properly "You'll have to avoid touching anything until they dry" She tells him standing up and putting everything away.

The pain wasn't even that bad but he loved the sensation of her hands caressing his and wanted the feeling to last longer so he made it difficult for her so it would. She was the calmest person he knew so it wouldn't bother her. He watched her gentle deft hands as they cleaned out his wounds and rubbed the ointment over them. Her hands felt like silk against his rough ones.

"That's gonna be difficult, Goldilocks" he said moving closer to her forcing her to hit the doorframe of the bathroom gently his chest centimeters from hers. He dipped his head slightly and grazing his lips against her cheek keeping his hands behind his back. "That bed over there is just right" he whispers in her ear.

"What if the three bears come home?" She says with a smile as he throws her on the bed.

"I guess you'll have to get up and kick their asses, for interrupt'n us" he says crawling on top of her and starts placing kisses up her neck, down her cheek and across her chin, before hovering over her mouth. He waits until her eyes open and she stares up at him; completion and contentment radiating from her beautiful blue gaze. She tilts her chin up just slightly and he follows suit, their lips brushing soft and slow before heightening to become more fulfilling. Her legs wrap around him tightly and her arms circle his shoulders.

After their shower she had to apply the ointment again. This time he sat there with a smile on his face.

"Damn" He said when they entered the living room again. "We don't have nothin' to decorate it with" When he thought and asked about getting the tree he didn't even think that in order to make it a Christmas tree you needed ornaments and other stuff.

"We can make some" Juliet tells him.

"Make some?" he asks

"Yes, we can drape some popcorn or candy canes for starters"

He raises his eyes brows. "Like the olden times"

"Why not we are in the seventies" she smiles and goes to kitchen and looks through the pantry until she finds the popcorn maker. He watches her pour the kernels into the machine and turn it on. They wait while the smell of freshly popped popcorn fills the kitchen.

"Makes you miss the simple things like sticking a bag in the microwave, don't it?" he says as they wait.

"We could've done it on the stovetop; my grandma insisted that it tasted the best that way when I was little"

James takes the bowl to living room and Juliet walks out with another bowl filled with cranberries. "It'll give it more color" She goes into the bathroom to get some dental floss and two needles from the sewing kit.

She was sitting on the carpet with her legs crossed. She was working on her third strand when she heard James swear.

"Son of a bitch" he growls as he poked himself for the tenth time. He looks into Juliet's calm blue eyes as she touches his hand, takes them from him and guides the floss through the needle and ties the knot. He eyes the ones she finished. She hands them back to him and he starts alternating between popcorn and cranberries. Once he gets the hang of it he starts moving quicker. He was almost caught up to her.

"This isn't a race, James" She tells him

"Then why ya moving so quickly Speedy Gonzales" he says covering the bowl with his hand and taking his time grabbing a fistful of popcorn.

A smile escapes her face as she waits for him to get what he needed. Her competetive side takes over. Most people didn't think she had one but being a doctor no matter what kind you were, you were always competing with someone else. If he wanted to play she'll play. She takes a deep breath and remembers her surgical rounds training when they had contests to see who could stitch the fastest. So she starts strings the popcorn and cranberries at rapid speed.

James looks over and drops his strand to stare at her. His mouth hangs open slightly as her hands move at what looks unnatural speed. She doesn't even notice him looking because she staring so intently at what she was doing.

"This ain't a damn dying person Dr. Flash"

"If this was a dying person I wouldn't be working as fast" she replies nonchalantly "And the Flash wasn't a Doctor"

"I know that" he grumbles because he couldn't think of a better nickname and picks up his line to finish it but smiles to himself while he does it.

When they finished they started draping them across the tree. She'd walk around one side and hand it to him to continue on the other. They walked backwards to admire their handiwork.

It was his first real Christmas tree since he was eight and he was damn proud of it. Looking at their homemade decorations did bring that part of his childhood that he long since forgotten about. He wrapped his arms around Juliet while she stared at their tree. He really enjoyed saying that too, _their tree_. They stood there for quite awhile both lost in childhood memories of happier times. This is what Christmas was supposed to be like.

He leans forward and Juliet could feel his hot breath on her ear. She smiles and places her hand behind her on his stomach moving towards his jeans. He groans as she starts caressing him. "Someone's puttin' themselves on the naughty list this year" he smiles as he feels her fingers undoing his belt.

He turns her around to face him and starts popping the buttons out of their slots easily and pushes her shirt back. She arches into him with a smile tugging at her lips. He slides her shirt off and leaves his hands on her lower back and pushes her lower half closer to him. She tilts her head up and catches her mouth with his. He groans again as she grinds against him.

She trailed away from his mouth and down his neck, finding the spot that always had him reacting. "Wanna see why I'm on the list" she says seductively into his ear.

* * *

"Helen a few house down from us makes ornaments" Juliet tells him while they were eating dinner the next day. "We should see if we can do some yard work for and then pick some out" No one was paid in Dharmaville everything was done by trading things or doing labor for them.

James nods his head. They both had the day off tomorrow might as well do something productive. They washed and dried the dishes and made their way over Helen's house.

Helen was one of the older Darmites. She had gray hair that she wore up in a bun and had librarian glasses perched on her nose. She was wearing a red knit top with white along the sleeves; she almost looked like a version of Mrs. Clause you see depicted in books. She was sitting on a rocking chair on her porch knitting when they walked up to her.

"Hello, Helen" Juliet says.

"Juliet, James" She replies in a kindly voice.

"I had heard you make Christmas ornaments" Juliet begins "So James and I were wondering if we could help you do some yard work" she pointed around the yard. "Our tree is quite empty right now since we didn't expect to be spending Christmas on an island"

Helen smiles at them and tells them that that would be wonderful.

The next day James is pushing a lawn mower across her lawn and Juliet was on her hands and knees pulling weeds from Helen's garden.

The afternoon sun was beating down on them making her have to wipe the sweat from her brow every few minutes. Her long hair was tied behind her in a loose ponytail. She looks up to see James has hair the same. She never really looked at guys with long hair it made her think of hippies. With James she never even noticed it; it was just a part of him. And she had to admit she loved running her fingers through it when they made love. He was nothing like her other boyfriends not that she had many, one in high school and Edmund. Both had turned out to be self righteous asses. Goodwin was the closet to being a real boyfriend, but he was married to another woman. So she kept him at arm's length and just enjoyed being in his company. His hair was a little longer then her other two boyfriends who had short cropped hair. Maybe that was a sign that she actually likes guys with long hair. She laughs to herself. She didn't know how to define what she and James were to each other yet. Everything was new and exciting they were in the honeymoon stage right now and she didn't know what would happen when it ended. But for now she was happy and that was enough.

James pushed the lawn mower across the grass. He had cut grass for a few summers when he was younger, he stopped because it was boring work and he was looking for excitement. So he never thought he find so easy to be doing every day normal things like doing yard work with his girlfriend. _Girlfriend_he thought to himself, he never really had a girlfriend before. He had been with plenty of girls as a teenager and his others were all marks and one night stands. Cassidy was the closest to being like a girlfriend, he enjoyed spending time with her and that made the work part easier. He guessed he did care about her but not enough to not take her money and run. With Juliet everything was different he didn't know what to call it. He couldn't explain his feelings for her quite yet but he knew he wanted her to be with him. He enjoyed doing the normal domestic things with her and he knew he never wanted to that with anyone else. All the other women he did it for the money but doing them with Juliet was a reward enough for him.

They stopped for a bit when Helen brought out lemonade and sandwiches for them. She brought out her box of her ornaments and let them pick out the ones they wanted while they ate.

When they finished all Helen's yard work they went back to their house to hang the ornaments on the tree. It finally looked like a real Christmas tree when it fully decorated. She liked that everything on it was homemade. It made everything feel more real even though they were still stuck on the damn island thirty years in the past.

* * *

It was the day before Christmas Eve when Helen called out her name as she left work that day. She walked over to her and was handed an object wrapped in tissue paper.

"What's this?" She asked the older woman.

"My gift to the both of you" Helen replies.

"You didn't have to get us something" Juliet tells her.

"Yes I did, dear" Helen says motioning her to open it.

Juliet holds the object in one palm and slowly un-wraps it. She sucks in her breath as she looks at what she's holding. Helen had carved figures of her and James with their arms around each other. She looked at James figure with its dark blond shoulder length hair and the two dots on his smiling face representing his dimples and her figure had blonde hair cascading down past her shoulders with bright blue eyes. They were both wearing their Dharma coveralls. His tan one had _Security _written across the pocket and _Motorpool_ was written on her dark blue ones. Their names were written in a banner underneath their figures. And in a longer banner underneath that curved up in a half circle was _Merry Christmas, 1975_.

"Thank you" she says smiling at Helen. "We're going to have to do something else for you. You obviously put a lot of work into this, were you working on it all night? I don't know if you have enough work for us to do make up for this" she says talking faster. She had never received a gift like this before and the likeness of both of them was uncanny.

"Child, it's a gift. There is no payback necessary." The older woman replies. "I'm an old woman whose husband long since passed away. My only enjoyment now is seeing young couples being happy together and then capturing that joy in art." She places her hand over Juliet's. "I started it months ago" She says with a smile "I just added the year last night" she winks at Juliet.

"Thank you, again" Juliet says hugging Helen.

She walks into their house and rearranges some ornaments to place the new one in the center. She smiles to herself and goes to take a shower.

James walks into the house and throws his keys in the bowl by the door and goes over to admire the tree. He sees something different on it, a new ornament that stood out from the rest. He walks closer to stare at figures of himself and Juliet swinging from the one of the branches. He was amazed by the likeness of figures and read the inscription under their names.

He had seen ornaments like this all time during the Christmas holidays; he always thought they were cheesy. But he knew people bought them like crazy to add their own names or names of children and grandchildren. He'd laugh because the shops would charge more just to write a name down in black marker and people were lined up to pay it.

But looking at the one hanging from his tree, he sort of understood why people wanted them now. The date was always on the piece somewhere. The little figure was celebrating the memory of the year a family spent together since a new year would soon start. Or maybe this one was different because it actually looked like them and weren't some generic people standing next to each other. He saw Juliet's blue eyes looking calmly back at him like the real one does. It made him feel warm all over. He shook his head maybe this was the Christmas spirit people were always talking or singing about, the one that made Christmas so special.

* * *

On Christmas Eve they went to Horace and Amy's where they announced they were getting married. Champagne was passed around along with congratulations to the happy couple. They noticed that parties in the seventies tended get rowdy quickly. It was a mix of the alcohol, loud music and pot.

Juliet was wearing a long white dress a v-cut. She had part of her hair in small bun and left the rest falling down in waves against her back. She looked stunning and he stood in the living room staring at her for the longest time until she playfully punched him the arm to get him focus. He's wearing a black suit with a white bow tie. He complained to her that it looked like he was going to the damn prom in this outfit. But this was a winter wonderland themed party and his choice was the white bow tie or an all white suit and she figured he wouldn't be caught dead in a white suit. She was right and he was resigned to wearing the bow tie. He smiled slyly and grabbed her pale hand in his.

He takes Juliet's hand after a few minutes of raising their glasses and toasting and whispers. "Let's go outside"

She raises her eyebrow at him as she takes a sip of champagne. "Why?"

"I need some fresh air" he tells her, she nods and follows him outside into the well lit Dharma winter wonderland. Every house was decorated in silver and white. Garland was wrapped around every pole, white lights were draped the along all of their trees were adorned with white and silver ornaments shaped like snowflakes and icicles with curls of silver ribbon nestled in the branches and clear beads draped alongside them. Even without the snow it still looked breathtaking.

They walked over to the gazebo to sit down. For this they decorated it with icicle ornaments hanging in between white Christmas lights. They draped the benches with at white sheer fabric with pillows underneath to make it look like snow.

Juliet sat down on one the benches and he joins her. She leans against his chest and his arm went around her holding her there. All of this happened instinctively like they been together for years. They sipped their drinks in silence just staring at Dharma village.

"I made a list" she says breaking the silence.

"A list?" he asks "Is that an Other thing?" he says with a smile.

She rolls her eyes. James was the only one to call her an Other like it was the name of her religion, strangely enough she'd started calling herself that because of him and that was before they even knew each other. They didn't call themselves Others, they had a name that they called themselves a name that must never be spoken to outsiders. She contemplated telling James their true name but she liked it when he called her an Other. It's became a joke between them now. "No" she answers softly "It's a me thing"

He smiles as she looks up at him the white light illuminating her blue eyes. They could be the softest blue with specks of white like waves in the ocean and all he needed to calm down was gaze into those eyes. Other times when she was excited or after their love making they shone the brightest shade of blue he had ever seen and he'd get lost just staring at them. When she was upset they'd turn a darker shade making them look like ice and he knew then that it was time for him to shut up. They'd lose their color a little when she was sad or depressed and he'd do anything to give them back their shine. Right now they were the clear calmness of low tide. "What kind of list?" he asks placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Things to do before I die" she replies.

His heart stops beating for half second, he didn't know what they were to each other yet but he knew he didn't even want to think of her dying. He shakes that thought from his head. He takes a moment to calm his racing heart. "What's on it?"

She bows her head and bites her lip.

"The things we told each other could put the both of us in jail and you're embarrassed to tell me about things you want to do?"

She laughs this time. "What's on your list?" He asks again.

She smiles and says the first one on her list "Learn to speak a foreign language"

"Do dead ones count?"

"I suppose it does" She says she sighs and another small laugh escapes her throat. "Beat someone up"

Now it's his turn to laugh. "Well, young Grasshopper you can cross that one off multiple times"

"Shoot a gun" she says continuing.

"Anne Oakley don't have nothin' on you" he says with a huge smile. "Anythin' else?" He asks with a sly grin.

"Well" she starts "You've helped me cross a few things off my list already" she says seductively. He raises his eyebrows now he was intrigued wondering just what it was he helped her cross off her list.

She told him more of the things she's hasn't done yet and some more of what she has. She laughs because she knew she was able to cross things off because she was on this island, back in Miami she wouldn't have accomplished any of it. She would've been too afraid. She knew being here had made into a stronger person she just wasn't sure if it was better. "We should go back inside; we don't want to be rude party guests"

They walk over and try to sneak back in hoping no one knew they how long they were missing. As they were about to leave the kitchen Amy calls out to them and tells to get some chips since they were starting to run low. She didn't seem to notice that they haven't been in there with her.

They go the pantry to get Amy her chips. James grabs a bag and is about to hand one to Juliet when she grabs him by the labels of his suit she leans in and kisses him. Deep, hard, passionate; she take his mouth and makes it her own. Her hands delve into his hair, her lips slant over his possessively, her teeth nip at his mouth, his arms wrap around her and knead into her back, drawing her as close as she could possibly get.

She tastes sweet and hot. His hands fell down her back and she arches into him, her mouth opening to gasp for air. Her tongue flicks out to lick at his lips. Her eyes were half-open, glazed and staring into him sensually. She pulls away with a smile on her lips with her arms still wrapped around his neck.

Out of breath he asks. "What was that for?"' And he follows her finger as she points up where he sees mistletoe hanging on top of them. Leave it to hippies to put mistletoe on the door frame of a pantry. He smiles and captures her lips once more. They were still standing underneath it might as well make use of it.

* * *

Juliet stretches and opens her eyes slowly to see James propped on his elbow looking at her. "Morning" she says lazily.

"About time" he says with a smile.

"What time is it?"

"Seven am" he replies.

She hides the shock in her eyes at the early time because she notices the gleam in his eyes. The gleam you see in children's eyes on Christmas morning. She smiles at him and sits up holding the blanket against her chest and gets up slowly letting it fall while she goes to the closet to get her robe. He lies on the bed watching her with a grin. He gets up and pulls on his light blue pajama bottoms and pads over to her before she can finish tying her robe. He cups her chin with his hand and kisses it starts out gentle and relaxing before becoming passionate and all consuming, he places his hands on her bare hips and pushes her against the door of the closet. He was suckling her neck now, face buried against her shoulder as one of his hands tangled in her hair while the other delicately traced down the curve of her back. She feels him chuckle lowly against her neck before he nips at her tender skin, making her bite down on her lip as she whimpers into his ear while running her hands through his hair and down his neck.

She sat with her legs at side by their Christmas tree and he again was propped on his elbow watching her un-wrap her gift he gave her. His tanned torso was toned and perfect and was distracting her while she opened her present. She pulls one end of the ribbon undoing the green bow, slowly rips the wrapping paper and take the top off the box. She swallows as she reaches her hands inside to hold the vinly record pouch in her hands.

"Now you can always cheer yourself up" he says

She smiles at him and rubs her hand along the paper record case. She stole the CD from Rachel before she went to college, this was their song. They'd sing it together every time they heard it and she had wanted it to remember her by when she was away. It was the song that played on the last day she saw her sister and she'd play it every morning when she woke up this island it was the only thing that got her through the day. The beat, the melody and the lyrics would cheer her up for those three minutes and nine seconds. She left her CD behind when she betrayed the Others and hasn't been able to listen to except for the time she sang it in karaoke. She feels tears in the corners of her eyes. "Thank you, James"

He smiles closes his eyes and nods his head towards her.

She hands him a small package wrapped in blue paper with snowmen on it. He un-wraps the present and throws the paper to the side. He flips the box up to reveal a watch

It had dark brown leather band with a tan rectangle face plate with reddish brown color on the inside. He read the inscription on the bottom "I got your" it said so he turned the watch over and read "in any time"

"It's cheesy" She says shaking her head to avoid looking him in the eyes. She feels his hand cup her face.

"Juliet" he says and she looks up at him. "This is amazing…probably the best present I've ever received" He lays the watch on his left hand and closes the clasp underneath. He holds his wrist and touches the top with his thumb and looks directly into Juliet's eyes. "Thank you"

Miles and Jin came over dinner and they sat down to a dinner of roast goose with sage onion dressing, braised chestnuts, giblet gravy, spicy applesauce, green beans in a mustard sauce, a cranberry-pecan salad and a plum pudding covered in a rum sauce for dessert.

Dinner was wonderful as always, Juliet was an amazing cook. His mouth watered as the aromas filled the kitchen as they all helped her prepare everything. Juliet seasoned the goose while he prepared the gravy. Miles mixed the green beans and Jin put together the salad. Together they made the applesauce and plum pudding.

James ate his dinner with a wine glass in front him listening and adding to the conversations, every once in awhile he would look at the table full of food and at his friends and Juliet. He never thought he'd have a Christmas like this and be enjoying it as much as he was. For the first time he couldn't think of any place else in the world he'd rather be right now then right here. He smiles at Juliet when she catches him staring at her.

Juliet feels her heart flutter when James smiles at her. She never thought she'd enjoy Christmas again but here she was at a small table filled friends and one that was more then. This would be a Christmas she would never forget because for the first time she felt like she home.


	17. The first time they celebrated New Years

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep."

* * *

The first time they celebrated New Year's they were chopping wood for the New Year's Eve bonfire down at the beach later that night.

"Damn, take it easy She-Ra" he says as she swings an axe down on the logs they where chopping. He watches her position her feet bring the axe behind her head and swing down. The axe bounces off the wood. She tries again this time the axe gets stuck in log.

He smiles and watches her struggle to lift it out for a bit then goes to help her. "Don't you know how to chop wood?" he asks.

"I'm from Florida, James" she replies wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. "We really didn't have much need for firewood and if we did we'd go buy it."

"Then why'd ya volunteer us for this job?" He asks as he grips the handle and tries to pull the axe out.

"I don't know" she says "I guess I wanted to get away from there for awhile" He nods in agreement. Being here was so different for them. They were able to relax and have fun for the first time in a long time. Sometimes it could be overwhelming and sometimes it felt like a dream and they would wake up covered in mud and blood and be flashing through time again. It was only being with each other that felt truly real.

He puts his foot on the base for more leverage. It still wouldn't budge. "It's like the damn Excalibur" He says using all his strength. He looks over to Juliet, who's watching him, she was wearing a light colored tank top and tight jeans that formed to her body perfectly. Her blond hair was up in a pony tail, no make-up, had sweat droplets on her forehead and she still looked amazing. He struggles to bring his focus back to the axe. Finally he's able to free it."There's a knot in the wood it'll be easier if we chop this one into smaller pieces"

"You're the expert" she says with a smile.

"I had to do my fair share of choppin' when we first crashed here" He says "I helped built a raft" he says proudly as the log splits. "Course you people knew 'bout that and were waiting in the water for us"

Juliet winces when he says that, remembering what had happened that night. James looks over and sees her reaction and he closes his eyes as the axe swings hangs from his hand. "You weren't there. So you didn't do anythin' wrong.'" He tells her.

"I knew about it. I knew they were there to take Walt" She says closing her eyes. "That's just as bad"

"Not in my book" he says letting the axe fall to the ground with a soft thud and goes to her. "You didn't take the kid, they did" Juliet falls against his chest and his arms wrap around her. She brings her hand up and touches his shoulder where he had been shot that night.

"You can't blame yourself for everything those people did" he tells her as he kisses the top of her head and runs his hand along her back. Juliet lays her head on his chest and listens to his heartbeat softly against her ear. She felt safe in his arms. She sighs and pulls away from him to put another log on the base.

They spent the rest of the afternoon chopping the logs. Like everything else without words they automatically became partners. He would chop the logs and throw them off the base and put a new one on, Juliet would throw the logs into a pile when it was big enough she'd gather them up and take them to the bus.

They had plenty of logs for the bonfire. The back of shirt was covered in sweat and his arms felt heavy. but he was determined to chop the wide log he found into pieces. He'd swing the axe down and it would barely make a dent. Juliet got tired of watching him and continued to take the rest of wood to the bus.

"I wasn't aware we were making Pinocchio" she says with a smirk when she came back ten minutes later seeing the four splinters of wood he managed to take off the log scattered around the base.

"You always gotta be a wiseass don't you?" he tells her shaking his head.

"You like my wise…ass" She says over her shoulder and bends down to gather the last of firewood in her arms.

He smiles and nods his head as he watches her walk away from him.

* * *

The party began at dusk; it was at the beach so they dressed casual. Jeans, t-shirts and sandals. They went to coolers and James plucked out two beers. He handed one to Juliet and they both popped their cans and stared out into the ocean.

He was content to sip his third beer when Juliet grabbed his hand and dragged him out to dance. Disco was still popular in this decade and there was no way he would be caught doing any finger pointing. Watching the fools out there now was embarrassing enough. "I don't feel like dancin' now, I gotta finish my beer" he holds it up for emphasis.

"Afraid John Travolta is a better dancer than you?" She asks with a smirk.

"John Travolta _is _a better dancer than me, cause I don't dance" he tells her sipping his beer slowly.

"We've danced before"

"That wasn't dancin' that was swayin'" he tells her."That movie didn't even come out yet" he says.

"So you've seen it?" she says with a smile.

He looks at over his beer can embarrassed. He shrugs "It's on late at night"

"I know that's when I saw it" She remembered many sleepless nights trying to find out the correct combinations to make the uterus accept the embryos in her patients. They wanted children and she'd promise them that they would become mothers. But when she got stuck or frustrated she'd switch on the television and watch whatever old movie was on. Whether it was _Gone with the Wind_, _Saturday Night Fever _or some cheesy horror movie with bad acting, sexy stripping, gory deaths and unintelligible plot. But it didn't matter what she was watching they'd help clear her mind so she could get back to work.

She did manage to drag, push and pull him out there and he smiled when a slow song started. They swayed with the music, her head rested on his shoulder and he slung his arms low on her hips, pressing her closer to him with his hands. He enjoyed feeling her body next to his, clothed or not. So comfortable and so warm, she felt just right against him. She was amazing unlike any woman he had ever been with. She managed to get him to do things he never thought he would and he actually liked doing them. As long as he was with her everything they did was amazing.

Her her arms were wrapped around him tightly. He was incredible. Tender and loving and utterly fascinating. The plains of his body that she'd mapped uncountable times. The way his mind worked, which she'd picked apart as she laid beside him or when they were lounging about reading books together.

They had continued dancing like that even when a faster song had started. They didn't care they were just lost in each other. When they finally stopped, they just grinned at each other.

Phil was mixing drinks at the bar, despite him being a tad slow he was an excellent bar tender. Plus you couldn't get the guy to stop working for anything. He'd always volunteer for any shift at any time. James didn't think he even knew how to relax. But he supposed that he'd be like that too, if he didn't have Juliet to go home to. Working all day was worth when he'd walk through the door into Juliet's waiting arms or to have her walk into his.

"What can I get for you?" Phil says as they walk up to him.

He hands them their drinks and they walk over to Horace and Amy. "Can you believe it's 1976 already" Amy says to them.

Juliet smiles and says "No" _since two years ago it was 2004 _she says the last part in her head and sips her drink.

"It'll be 1980 soon, can you imagine that?" Horace asks looking lovingly at his fiance.

_Don't want really want to imagine that again, Fibonacci. _James thinks to himself as he looks at Horace. He looks to Juliet who has a look of horror on her face.

Juliet imagined herself with big hair, leg warmers, jelly bracelets and bright shirts. _Were they really going to have to live through the eighties all over again? _Although seeing James in parachute pants or an Izod shirt with the collar popped would be amusing.

* * *

James was looking around the crowd for her. The countdown had already started and she went off with Amy to talk thirty minutes ago. _What could they possibly talk about for so long? _He never thought of Juliet has the girl talk type. _9,8,7 _He scanned the crowd again looking for any sign of her blond hair. _6,5,4_

She snuck up behind him, her arms wrapping around his chest and without flinching, he smiled and simply leaned back into her. Her talented hands rubbed along his chest. He turned around and her arms went around his neck and he slung his arms low on her waist, hands at the small of her back, his fingers splayed lower over her butt. _3,2_ One of his hands moved up the center of her back, fingers grazing her neck before they buried in her hair. He didn't need any more alcohol she was intoxicating.

The loud cheers from the crowd noise makers sounded like they were coming from a tunnel all he could see and hear was her. Her back arched slightly and his hands pressed against her, pulling her closer as he leaned down to kiss her. Her eyes fell to half mass as his mouth met hers and he kept her gaze as long as he could. But as her tongue twined with his, the sensation had his eyes closing and his body leaning forward to meet hers.

He pulled away staring into her blue gaze."Happy New Year, Juliet"

"Happy New Year, James"

They wished happy new year to everyone else, toasted and drank their champagne. The party had started right back up again after that and would go long into the morning.

So they stared walking hand and hand along the water their shoes discarded on the sand; they let the water lap at their feet. They looked out at the moon-kissed surface of the ocean. A grin spread across James' face. He looked around to and saw they had walked far away and the sounds of the partying could only be heard in the distance. He let go of her hand and pulled his shirt off.

"What are you doing?" She asks looking at him curiously.

"It's hot and that water looks damn invitin'" he answers as he undoes his belt and pulls down his zipper.

"James!" she says looking around making sure no one was around.

"Come'on Jules. Everyone's gotta go skinny dipping once in their lives" he says shoving down his boxers and letting them pool at his feet. He grinned at her again and dove into the cool blue water. He surfaced with a yell shaking water out of hair that fell into his eyes. "Ya gonna join me or what?"He asks with big grin.

She looks around nervously and back at James. He cocks his eyebrow at her. If she wasn't just a little bit tipsy she wouldn't be doing this. She grabs for the hem of her t-shirt, lifting it over her head and adding it to the pile. She needed to do this quickly, before she ran out of nerve she reached for the waistband of her jeans.

James nearly drowned when Juliet removed her t-shirt. He'd forgotten to keep his arms and legs moving, and almost sank beneath the surface before instinct kicked in to save him. He drank in the sight her normally pale skin luminescent in the moonlight. He watched as her naked body slice the water.

Juliet erupted from the water, blue eyes now wide with shock. 'It's cold!"

"Didn't know if you'd join me if I told you that." He says with a grin. He swam over to her and stared at her; her cheeks flushed with embarrassment at what she was doing. Her hair drying from the heat was turning into blonde curls. She was beautiful.

She smiles at him and disappears under the water. He treads water looking around waiting for her to bring him under too. A few more seconds pass and he starts worrying when she still hasn't surfaced. He frantically starts looking for her, he holds his breath and sinks under the water. He opens his eyes to see if he can see where she is. He comes up and is about to try the other direction when someone is holding him from behind. "What are you a damn mermaid?" he asks breaking himself from her grasp and turning around to face her.

"I grew up by the ocean" she says with a smile "It's like my second home. When we were younger Rachel and I would have contests to see who can hold their breath the longest underwater"

"Let me guess you won" he says to her.

"No, Rachel always did" Juliet says with a hint of jealousy and sadness at the thought of never seeing sister again.

"Well, Ariel. That's good to know. I almost drowned looking for ya" She just smiles at him and stares at him, the moonlight reflected off skin bronzed from days in the sun. He was beautiful. Her hands reach up landing on either side of his face and he pulls her closer as he leans in to kiss her. She pulls away and cocks her eye brows at him and looks towards the docks. He knew it was challenge and they take of swimming. She beats him by half second. "You cheated, you were already in front of me" he says standing up since the water was shallower and came up to chest. She did the same.

"You've got longer arms than me" she replies.

"Not by much, Blondie" he says comparing his arms to hers.

She gazes upwards at the wooden planks of the dock they were under. This where he asked her to say just two weeks, two weeks that had turned into two years. She couldn't remember exactly what brought them to this point They were partners one minute and lovers the next, as if it were just part of the process; a natural path for them to follow. It fit them well, though. They met on a wavelength that had long eluded her with anyone.

She smiles slyly and presses her hand against his abdomen and pushing him till he hit the leg of the dock. She slides her hands higher, up his chest and over his shoulder to curl around his neck and kisses him.

His tongue glides over lips soft as satin while his hands slice through the water over the silky skin of her back. James sucks her tongue, and then pulls away. He buries his face in her neck and licks the water droplets off her shoulder. Juliet tilts her head back as he nibbles along her shoulder and up her neck to her ear. She felt his hands sliding up from hers, fingers stroking the inside of her forearm and tickling the sensitive patch of skin at the curve of her elbow. She shivered, her breath stuttering. She didn't know how he managed to spark something so deep inside of her with the smallest of touches, but he did. Always.

His fingers stroked the soft skin of her flesh, mouth quirking as goose bumps spread across her and her breathing picked up. He never thought he'd have anything like this. This is what he had been avoiding for most of his life. A girlfriend, a friend those were things he thought unattainable. He was a con man, a criminal. His life was mess, he was a mess. He didn't think he'd find somebody who could understand him and stand by him, not like she did. Just hearing her voice made him smile and soothed his fears.

He turns her around their bodies making soft ripples in the ocean as the water splashes against them as he guides her gently to the leg of the dock. He looks into her blue eyes filled with desire for him. He leans forward, mouth pressing down against her shoulder, kissing it lightly. There was something so entirely breathtaking about his lips against her skin. So soft and warm, caressing her freely.

She could get entirely lost in the moment; forget the world and just drown in him. The outside world became null and void. It was just him. Each intake of breath that filled his lungs, faster and heavier as the heat grew between them in the cool water.

* * *

They walked hand in hand back into dharmaville. The sun had already risen, barefoot, their clothes slightly damp with specks of sand on them. They passed Miles' house and he tilts his head and smirks at them as Natalie comes out of his house in his shirt with shorts underneath. Carrying a cup of coffee out for him. James and Juliet return the smirk.

James wanted to get in their house and take a shower, he had sand in places he really didn't want. They had some fun in the water then again on the beach. They fell asleep holding each other on the sand. The tide had woken them up. The cold water hitting their feet was better than any alarm clock. They had to scramble to get their clothes before they washed off into the ocean.

After showering they ate a small lunch and read for a bit on the couch. But that didn't last long since they found each other much more interesting than the books they were reading. So they ended up in the bedroom. It was New Years day and most people would be hung over or still drunk so operating heavy machinery was out of the question for the motor pool and Phil volunteered to watch the surveillance room and no one raised their hands to argue, so James had the day off as well.

The curtains were closed and the room was dim despite it being mid-afternoon. He was focusing on her fingers threading and unthreading them, caressing them softly, mapping out each line and dip as if they were something to be treasured. She took the time to stare at his hands; so large and warm. Calloused with long fingers and a wide palm. She remembered how they felt; wrapped around her hands, her hair, her hips, caressing her skin. She bit her lip. She loved his hands. Her gaze flickered higher; and the arms connected to those hands, muscular; she loved gripping them tightly or tracing them as they lay together. She kissed them sometimes; lazily tracing the curves of muscle with her lips. The raw power shown in each movement he made. Her eyes trailed higher, taking in his broad shoulders; she knew they were currently scored with the evidence of her nails digging in from their early morning activities.

They laid there for awhile after they had made love again, her beneath him, body wrapped around him tight but comfortable. He finally turned them over on their sides, arm slung over her waist, hand sliding up and down her back. She stroked his hair, staring into his eyes.

* * *

A/N: Up next Valentine's Day. :D


	18. The first time they celebrated Valentine

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**The First Time**

The first times for James and Juliet.

* * *

"I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep" - Walt Whitman

* * *

The first time they celebrated Valentine's Day Julie's foot was in a cast. Radzinksy had called her to fix his jeep. When she arrived at the construction site he was screaming at anyone within earshot of the Pacific Ocean. Juliet sighed and blew her hair out of her face. She leaned back against the seat of the jeep. Tom and Jason looked at her with puppy dog eyes meaning they wanted her to go over to talk to Radzinsky.

"You're better at handling him" they tell her.

"I might punch him in the face, in fact I want to right now and I haven't even talked to him" Jason says. "If that happens, Chang would take me off the motor pool for a week and you'd have more work to do"

She shakes her head and pulls her seat belt off. "Cowards" she tells them and opens the door.

"You are our warrior" They say saluting her.

She walks over to him and he has his back to her. "Stuart" she says to get his attention. "What seems to be the problem?"

"The problem would be my jeep, which is not where I'm standing" He says loudly.

"I am aware of that fact" She says calmly.

"Are you? Then why are you over here?"

"Well, I was going to ask the jeep what happened, but the one you have is a little shy. He always clamps up and refuses to open his hood" she replies, that gets his attention as he turns to look at her. "So what's wrong with the jeep?"

"We'll get you some beers when where done with work" Tom says she walks back over to them.

When her dad bought the Firebird it didn't run at all. They replaced almost everything in it but it was a thing of beauty when they were finished. She had always loved to fix things. She'd take things apart just to put them back together again. When that got boring she started building things. Making something from nothing gave her a thrill. That's when she knew she wanted to be doctor. Staring into the heart of the jeep did make her miss her old job. But it still brought with it too much heartache for her to back to it. So taking out valves, checking oil pressures and replacing carburetors would have to do.

"It's all fixed" She says to Radzinsky as Tom and Jason start loading everything back into the van.

"Good, I want you to take those pipes over there back to the village, they need to be cut" He tells her.

"I will if you help load them" She says and he looks at her for awhile grits his teeth and bends to help her lift the steel pipe. They were carrying the last one over the van when he started yelling at one of the workmen, he got so worked up he dropped his side of the pipe unexpectedly that it caught her off guard and the pipe came crashing down on her foot.

She fell to ground biting into her lip to keep from screaming. She had heard the crunch of her bones breaking. Tom and Jason ran to her side, she was holding on to her foot sucking in her breath. Radzinsky was too busy screaming at someone to notice what he did. From the way her foot looked it appeared she fractured two or three of her metatarsal bones. Jason scooped her up and carried her to the van.

James burst through the doors of the infirmary startling everyone in it. He looked around frantically for her. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw her lying on one of the beds with her foot covered with an ice pack. He ran to her side and put his hands on his knees breathing heavily. He ran all the way from the Arrow.

"James" she says when she sees him.

"They said" he takes a breath "That there was an accident at the construction site and you were…rushed to the infirmary" he finishes still trying to catch his breath.

"I broke my foot" She says.

"How?" he asks calming his heart rate down. He was so worried that something had happened to her, all these horrible images ran through his head. He took off running without saying anything to Jin or Miles or getting more information on what happened. He had to see her he had to know she was alright, nothing else mattered.

"Radzinsky got distracted and let go of his side of the pipe and I dropped it" She tells him and he shakes his head, like he needed another reason to hate that doctor returned so he could set her in her cast. She hated this because it meant she'd be in for at least seven weeks.

* * *

Her eyes flutter open and she sees him. He was standing in the bedroom doorway shirtless with only his pajama bottoms on holding a single red rose against his chest. He grins at her shyly.

She pushes herself to a sitting position and smiles. "Is that for me?"

"Well Sleeping Beauty, it was, but I think it's wilted now" he says with a grin. "And my legs were starting to cramp"

"Maybe you're just getting old" she replies back with a smirk.

"If I am, then you're getting old with me" he says walking closer to her. They both go silent when they realize what he had said. He smiles because it didn't scare him. He could see himself growing old with her. He knew she'd have his back even if she had to use a cane as her weapon.

"Happy Valentine's day" he says walking over and kneels on the ground beside her side of the bed. He holds the rose out to her and she takes it. She brings it to her nose to smell and smiles over the top of it.

He stands up and her hand shoots out quickly grabs him before he could go anywhere she had the fastest reflexes of anyone he knew. She his brings his lips to hers. "hmm" escapes his throat as they fall back on the bed. She places the rose gently on table beside the bed and he positions himself on top of her careful not to touch her bad foot. She wraps her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss, her hands move towards the waistband of his pants.

"Breakfast" he says pulling away from her as she looks at him confused.

"Breakfast?" she asks.

"It'll get cold" he says as he gets off the bed. "I made breakfast"

"You made breakfast?" she says with a smile.

"Yes" he replies.

She moves to get up.

"No" he says gently "I got those tray thingies, stay there, I'll be right back" he says excitedly and runs out of the bedroom. She leans back against the headboard wondering what he was doing. He was talking too fast that she didn't understand what he was saying.

He had gotten up early to get the rose from Ray. He made maps or something and he grew weed in his backyard. He had given Juliet some to help with her pain and he came home after work to find her high. He watched for awhile because he knew she's never smoked before. She was quite the talker, told him about all twenty-six bones in the foot. He smiled and joined her when she rolled another joint. They spent the rest of the evening eating junk food and laughing at the Dharma labels on all the packages in their house.

He never paid much attention to flowers before but he noticed the roses one day when he walked by Ray's house. He knew Valentine's Day was coming up and he didn't know what do for it. He didn't know if getting a rose was too sappy or not. For the first time he was in a real relationship with a woman. There was no pretending or conning. For those he always had a plan and knew how to act and what to buy. But now he was lost. Juliet was different than those women and he wanted to show her how much he cared. He figured a rose wouldn't be too sappy.

He walks back in the room with her tray. "It was on your list, wasn't it?" He asks as he sets the tray over her legs. She looks down at three almost perfectly round pancakes with a strawberry sliced sitting in the middle and three crispy slices of Canadian bacon overlapping each other on the side.

"Be served breakfast in bed" He says "You can cross it off"

"Thank you, James" She says flattered that he remembered. She smiles and cuts into the pancakes and holds her fork to him as he took a bite.

* * *

Although Valentine's fell on Saturday in 1976, James had to go to work and since she couldn't she was home by herself. She had tried to read a book even reading Carrie for the fourteenth time wasn't helping. She was so used to being busy all the time. Before she came to the island her work kept her schedule pretty full. There were so many women out there that wanted to have children and she wanted to help them all. Then she came to the island and between trying to solve the pregnancy problem, learning Latin and hiding how she really felt about the Others she didn't have much down time.

Then she betrayed them and was busy trying to protect herself and the survivors of 815, and then she was flashing through time with barely a moment to catch her breath. And now here she was in some fantasy suburbia sitting on a couch bored out of her mind. Rachel had called her a workaholic and she was probably right. She needed something to do to stimulate her brain or she'd go crazy.

She grabbed her crutches and hobbled out the door. She walked into the recruitment center and saw Amy sitting at her desk with piles of paper work.

"Hi" she says to her.

"Hi, I thought you weren't supposed to walk on that" Amy says as she looks up at her.

"James is at work and I…need to do something" she smiles at the woman.

Amy nods her understanding and stands up to get Juliet a chair. "Well if you want to do some work I can use the help. We have a ton of new recruits coming in on Monday and we have to assign them jobs"

"I can work" Juliet replies excitedly leaning her crutches against the filing cabinet and hopping over the chair. Amy laughs at her for wanting to work when she didn't have too.

Amy hands her a stack of files. "These are the aptitude tests. The scores they received will correlate with a number each job we have here is assigned. Just match the scores with job list." She says pointing to a stack of papers.

"Ok" Juliet replies and starts to look through the files.

"You and your crew didn't take the test. Because of the circumstances that brought you to us. But this is what we usually do. The people who want to join the Dharma Initiative are given the tests at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Where your Scientist friend went" Amy tells her.

"Daniel's a brilliant Physicist" Juliet replies.

"I know that is why it was like fate that brought you to us. You're an amazing mechanic and Jim, Miles and Jin are doing a great job protecting us. We were going to have you take the test if the jobs you choose weren't working out. But we didn't need to worry" Amy says with a smile.

She liked Amy but she still had to keep her guard up. She couldn't let on how much she knew about the island and the hostiles or the fact that she knew what was going to happen to them in twenty years time. She couldn't even go swimming without wearing shorts for fear they would see the mark on her back and recognize it. Ben had doomed her forever to wear the mark of them. Because of that she couldn't allow herself to get too close to any of them, which in turn made her, James, Jin and Miles closer.

She continues to flip through files that reminded her reading the files on the survivors of 815. Although these were much more thorough, they not only had background checks and family history they had complete psychological works ups on them. The test itself was a series of strange questions but after a while she figures out if you answer the questions a certain way you can get a specific job.

"So did Jim do anything special for Valentines yet?" Amy asks.

Juliet looks up from her work to look at her. "He was holding a rose in the doorway when I woke up" She replies with a smile. "And he made me breakfast in bed"

"Wow, I didn't know Jim was so romantic" Amy tells her. "Horace says he has something special planned for tonight" Amy put a Marvin Gaye record on and they sang along to "How Sweet it is". She was glad because she preferred his version over James Taylor who was covering his song in this decade.

* * *

James felt bad about leaving Juliet alone, he knew how restless she got when she was bored. He offered to stay home but she told him to go to work because they needed him. Which was true, Phil and Jeff would be lost without him. They were good guys, loyal and hardworking but they were the types that needed to be told what to do.

"Jim, do you have a pen" Phil asked him when he walked in the security room.

James reached for the pen in his chest pocket and felt a piece of paper in there too. He took out the pen and handed it to Phil then took out the paper. _Something to think about_ it said. He continued reading and smiled she had written him a dirty poem. _Happy Valentine's Day – Juliet. _

He didn't think that woman could surprise anymore but she always managed too and he loved it. She truly was unlike any woman he'd ever been with. He put the poem back in his pocket where'd he look at throughout the day.

* * *

After she had finished assigning the new recruits she went home and decided to cook a special meal for James. She was never really fond of Valentine's Day it was just another day for her. When she had started dating Edmund he'd just give her a generic card and sign it. Goodwin had spent the day with his wife. So what James did for this morning was the most romantic gesture she's ever received.

So she wanted to return the favor. Being on the island they really didn't have a place to go to dinner, so making it was her only option. She started slicing up some tomatoes drizzled some oil on them and broiled them until they were slightly charred. She then whisked together vinegar, garlic, and chipotle chili. She took the bread out of the toaster and sliced them all into bite size pieces threw them in a bowl and added vinaigrette and cilantro, to make a spicy tomato salad. James being from the South and her from Miami they found they shared a love of spices. She then started making the beef medallions and mushrooms in a red wine sauce.

She lit some candles and dimmed the lights. She looked at the clock, he would be home soon so she poured the wine and decided to change into a dress. She knew it was just them but she was in a romantic mood so she might as well complete the ensemble.

The scent hit him before he opened the door. Spicy and sweet. He was tired but the intoxicating smells woke him up. He had found another note in his lunch box that got him through the rest of the day. Not that he got much done with imagining her doing the things in her poems.

He walked in the door to see Juliet leaning on the table wearing a black dress. He had never seen a woman look sexier in black dress than her, even when she had a white cast on her foot. He was at a loss for words he could barely think straight.

"Are you going to stand there with your mouth hanging open, Marcel. Or are you going to join me. I've only got one foot so you're going to have to come to me" she says with a smile.

He lets out a laugh walks over to her and cups her face in with his hand. She looks at him with crystal clear blue eyes. It felt as if she could look right through him, that she could see and hear his thoughts. He had never felt like this before. She had seen the darkness in him and she didn't run. She saw him, the real him. The man he never saw in himself. She was all he needed in his life, all he wanted.

When he pulled her to him wrapping his arms around her giving her soothing coaxing kisses it set her on fire. No one has ever awoken the passion inside her the way he did. She had given up hope of ever finding happiness long ago. But James had awoken those feelings and she tried to fight them off not wanting to get hurt again. But she found herself falling unwilling to stop. She wanted this, she wanted him.

He leans in, his lips ghosting over hers, so soft, so tender. Her eyes fall shut and her breath seemed to leave her entirely. His hand cradles her head, thumb stroking her neck, just below her ear. His other hand holding her back since she let go of the table which was the only thing holding her up. She arches into him, her lips meeting his with a little more pressure each time they kiss. Their noses brush, breaths mingle, lips fitting against each other perfectly, tongues tangle, and teeth graze.

He was able to contain himself enough to eat, he was starving and the scent was filling up the room. He took a quick shower and changed into a black suit with a white shirt and tie. He wanted to match her and they could pretend they were eating at a fancy restaurant. They sat close together and ate their food and drank their wine. Dinner had never been this intimate for him before. They had eaten together hundreds of times but this was the first time it felt like more.

She had made him his favorite dessert Blackberry Cobbler. He told her about picking blackberries at farm with his grandparents and how his Nana had made the most amazing cobbler. He looked to the sky and hoped his nana wouldn't get mad at him because Juliet's matched hers.

Afterwards he moved her crutches so she couldn't reach them while he washed all the dishes. It was only fair since she had done all the cooking. But she liked to make things even all the time so he had to go to extreme measures. He'd peek on her every once in awhile to see her sitting back in the chair with a resigned look on her face. Being unable to help was something she didn't like but with a cast on her foot she had no choice. She was having enough trouble dealing with it for the past three days so she was going to have a rough time for the next seven weeks. He'd have to think of ways to make it better.

When he was done he scooped her up before she could protest and took her to the bedroom. He laid her gently on the bed and she sat up reaching behind herself to unzip her dress. He moved closer and slid the straps down her shoulders as she pulled her arms out. He helped as she stood and let the dress fall to the ground. He lifted her again and put her back on the bed.

She grabbed him by his tie and brought his lips to hers and he quickly discarded his jacket as she undid his tie. He threw his shirt off and slipped out his pants. She just smiled and pulled him down toward her mouth and they fell on the bed together. He licked the seam of her lips before pushing past them, seeking out her tongue. They both sighed as his tongue found hers. Their lips pressed against each other and retreated. Their tongues pushed against each other. Their teeth nipped against each other's lips before they pulled apart, both panting for air.

He gazed into her eyes getting lost in their glimmer. Thin, delicate hands slid up his back, fingers tracing his spine and molding to the muscular, tense sculpt beneath them. He ducked his head, his mouth meeting hers.

He buried his face in her shoulder, kissing her neck. He trails down from her neck, kissing across her collar and down her chest. His head ducks lower, pressing lingering kisses to her stomach, tongue delving into her navel. Her ribs were ticklish so as his hands skimmed them, she laughed lowly, her body shivering. He smiled; so familiar with that laugh now. A laugh like a light that pushed away all the darkness.

She cries his name, over and over, in a breathy whisper, a broken whimper. He kisses down her neck, sucking at her pulse point. Her body was tense against him. He fell over the edge within seconds, his face buried against her neck, his hand holding tight to hers.

They nipped and kissed at each other's mouths as they both tried to catch their breath. He collapsed next to her and she turned into his side and curled up next to him. He caressed her arm. He thought he knew what love was once but he was mistaken. It wasn't until being with Juliet that he felt in it his very soul.

He felt Juliet's breathing even out as sleep overtook her body that contained so much strength and fire. A strength that he drank in to find the true joy and find happiness in the things and people that surrounded him he was no longer alone and unloved. He have to hide from the light anymore. He put both his arms around her and his chin atop her head. "Happy Valentine's Day" he whispers in her ear.

As his own eyes close he felt Juliet stir slightly and heard her whisper back, "Happy Valentine's Day."

It didn't take them long to fall asleep after that; mere minutes later, the only sound in the room was their even breathing as they slept peaceful and content holding each other.


End file.
